The final ticket for the NWSL Championship at BBVA Compass Stadium will be decided on Sunday at 4 p.m. as Portland Thorns FC host the Western New York Flash at Providence Park. Watch the match live on FOX Sports 1 (Channel Guide).
Portland is led by forward Christine Sinclair. The Canadian international missed nine games due to the Olympic Games but finished the regular season with six goals and two assists. Nadia Nadim led the team in goals with nine and tallied three assists. The Thorns’ roster includes five USWNT players in Tobin Heath, Lindsey Horan, Meghan Klingenberg, Allie Long and Emily Sonnet. Heath finished the regular season with a goal and a league-high 10 assists.
This is the first season on the Thorns sideline for head coach Mark Parsons, who joined the club from the Washington Spirit. Parsons has a 30-18-16 record as an NWSL head coach.
The Thorns lead the all-time series with a record of 6-2-3. The Thorns swept the season series with a victory on June 17 at Rhinos Stadium with goals from Nadim and Sinclair. The last meeting between both clubs was on Sept. 11 with the Thorns securing three points with goals from Nadim, Sinclair and Dagny Brynjarsdottir. The Flash have only won once at Providence Park and that came in 2014.
The Flash feature the 2016 NWSL Golden Boot winner in Lynn Williams, who finished the regular season with 11 goals and five assists. She shared the front line with Jessica McDonald, who finished the with 10 goals and seven assists. Combined, the two forwards accounted for more than half of Western New York’s goals this season.
USWNT midfielder Samantha Mewis finished with the third-most goals for the club with five. Mewis shares the midfield with team captain Abby Erceg. Potential impact players include Jaelene Hinkle and Makenzy Doniak, especially on dead balls where the Flash specialize in long throws.
The Flash are managed by Paul Riley, who served as the head coach of the Thorns in 2014 and 2015. Riley has a 25-23-16 record as a head coach in the league.
The winner will face Crystal Dunn, Ali Krieger and the Washington Spirit at BBVA Compass Stadium on Oct. 9 for the NWSL Championship. A special Bud Light Beer Garden package is available for this game at NWSLChampionship.com which includes a pregame concert featuring the popular Houston-area bands Wild Moccasins and Young Girls.
