It’s been all or nothing lately for Angel City FC, which lost to the Portland Thorns, 3-0, on Friday night at Providence Park in Portland.
It was the second straight shutout loss for Angel City following a pair of shutout wins.
Christine Sinclair scored two goals and Kelli Hubly scored her first NWSL goal to pace Portland. ACFC (3-3-0, 9 points) actually had 60% of the possession and 13 corner kicks but fell behind early and could not convert.
Portland (2-1-3, 9 points) was aggressive from the outset, with Sinclair banging a close-range shot off the post six minutes into the match. Sinclair had a shot on an open net in the 10th minute, but an Angel City defender blocked it.
Goalkeeper DiDi Haračić did what she could to withstand the constant pressure, but the Thorns’ early onslaught finally yielded a goal in the 15th minute. A corner kick in from Sophia Smith found Hubly, who headed it in for her first NWSL goal. Three minutes later, after an Angel City turnover, Hina Sugita played a soft pass ahead to Sinclair, who punched it in to double the margin.
Christen Press had Angel City’s best chance of the first half in the 28th minute, but her header sailed too high. Simone Charley also had a chance to cut the Portland lead in half but she stumbled to the turf before she could get off a shot on an open net.
Angel City dominated possession early in the second half with several corner kicks in the opening 10 minutes but could never break through. In the 65th minute, Angel City’s Cari Roccaro bounced a header off the crossbar.
Portland padded its lead in the 68th minute when Sinclair converted a header off a feed from her Canadian national teammate Janine Beckie.
The goal vaulted Sinclair into a tie for second on the NWSL’s career goals list with Lynn Williams (57), who is sitting out the season with an injury.
Angel City will be back at home on Tuesday night when it hosts the Houston Dash at Banc of California Stadium.
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