Welcome back to “I’m Curious!”

I am here in Portland for one more day and just in time for a mid-week clash, I have a recap for you on the most recent Thorns game from Sunday.

Keep an eye out as there will be some more Portland content to come, including more from another game tonight, and a bit on one of the coolest new pre-professional soccer teams in the country.

And for those of you looking for Spirit content, I’ll be back at it for the game in DC against the Seattle Reign on May 30^th .

It’s so nice to make it to 50 editions. Kind of amazing that I’ve kept up a passion project like this for this long.

And of course, it’s extremely nice to be a fan of The Arsenal Football Club, the champions of the English Premier League. 

They have not won a title since I was eight years old, and after years of ups, downs and close seconds, it was so nice to see. 

As always, feel free to either read through or flip around as you see fit!

Here’s the Table of Contents.

Table of Contents

• Welcome back to “I’m Curious!”

  • The Most Curious Thing This Week: Thorns v. Angel City

  • The Photo Bay

    • The Sophia-Sarah Showdown

    • So Close...: Angelina Anderson's Clutch Save

    • Tunnel Vision: Sam Hiatt Spotted Pregame

    • Give Liv Her Flowers: Moultrie Honored for 100 Caps

    • Ivy League Brain At Work: Pietra Tordin Uses Her Head

    • Smile, You’re on Candid Camera!

  • Other Sports Takes: The Girls Are On Fire

  • Something Good I Ate: Ken's Artisan Pizza's Caesar Salad

And here’s Peach!

The Most Curious Thing This Week

It’s two teams that made a game that might as well have been an email: Portland Thorns and Angel City.

In a scrappy draw that felt like it rarely ventured too far beyond the middle third of the field, both teams left with one point in the standings in a 0-0 draw Sunday in Portland. 

The two teams were remarkably even in their unremarkability. Both sides were missing their top offensive threats due to injury—Portland missed attacking midfielder Olivia Moultrie, while Angel City missed star attacker Sveindis Jónsdóttir.

The two clubs split possession 50/50, took 11 shots each, Portland had 376 passes to Angel City’s 374, and Portland put up 1.06 expected goals, while Angel City’s total ended at 0.99.

 If any team seemed to have the upper hand, it was Portland, who had 10 corners and created all three big chances over the course of the afternoon. But Angel City kept things level, including a crucial diving save from goalkeeper Angelina Anderson in stoppage time that helped maintain the pair of donuts up on the scoreboard. 

Thorns midfielder Jessie Fleming also hit one off the post that almost gave Portland a late winner.

Arguably the biggest tussle over the course of the day was between Thorns striker Sophia Wilson and Angel City center back Sarah Gorden.

Wilson is an often-transcendent striker thanks to her speed and finishing, but seemed to have her best opportunities capped without a player like Moultrie to help facilitate for her by drawing defenders away.

Gorden, meanwhile, is one of the fastest center backs in the world of women’s soccer. Hardly a few minutes would go by before another battle between Wilson and Gorden.

One friend described Gorden as having Wilson in her pocket. It was fairly hard to argue, given the lack of goals and the occasional sign of frustration from Wilson after Gorden’s well-timed challenges.

Angel City coach Alex Straus was less guarded in describing Gorden’s play, saying she “saved our ass.”

“I’ve been here for the last year or so. This last period has been the best I’ve seen of Sarah,” Straus said. “After she was on the bench a couple of games, she has grown a lot. She has taken the challenge and she has taken another step. The way she controlled Sophia Wilson today and limited her chances to get to big situations, she saved our ass a couple of times. And that’s her job. That’s what she’s here to do.”

The draw snapped Angel City’s four-game losing streak but extends their winless streak to five games.

Portland, meanwhile, has a frustrating result to start off a three-game week. If the club wants to maximize its points out of a busy stretch, it will have to earn more from tonight’s home game against Bay FC and Sunday’s showdown on the road in Kansas City against the Current. 

Defensively, however, the team has reason to feel comfortable after a clean sheet on Sunday.

“I do think we can be proud for, you know, playing a little bit more the way we want to play,” Thorns center back and captain Sam Hiatt said postgame.

While Portland didn’t put away their chances, goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold felt that the team creating those chances to begin with was a good sign for the games ahead.

“We knew we wanted to come out of this game with three points and, I mean, unfortunately we didn’t, but credit to us for pushing until the last minute and creating those chances. And I think hopefully next game, but I think sooner rather than later we’re gonna come together and we’re gonna put them away,” Arnold said.

The Thorns sit tied for second in the standings and play Bay FC tonight at home. Angel City is tied for 12^th after this weekend’s games, but is just two points away from 7^th at the bottom of a big log jam in the middle of the standings. Angel City also play a mid-week game, hosting Kansas City Current in Los Angeles tonight.

The Photo Bay

The Sophia-Sarah Showdown

I mentioned it higher up but Sophia Wilson and Sarah Gordon were going at it all day. From the pictures, it clearly took a toll on both sides to face a formidable opponent all afternoon.

So Close…

The Thorns almost had a winner in stoppage time. Sophia Wilson tried to put one past a diving Angelina Anderson, but the Angel City keeper got a hand on it with a stellar save.

The stop ended up winning the NWSL fan vote for Save of the Week.

Tunnel Vision

The walkout at Providence Park is set up such that a photographer with a bit of zoom on their camera can catch some of the idle chit-chat beforehand.

That’s exactly what happened to me, as I caught Thorns captain Sam Hiatt having a laugh as keeper Mackenzie Arnold stands behind her, seemingly trying to keep her focus.

Give Liv Her Flowers

Thorns midfielder Olivia Moultrie was out for Sunday’s game (and will be out for Wednesday’s as well), but she had recently crossed the milestone of 100 games with the Thorns.

It’s an extraordinary mark from the 20-year-old, who started the trend of young teens playing in the NWSL after suing for her right to join the league at 15.

Teen players often have a hard time finding their footing, but Moultrie quickly played her way into game action and has developed into one of the best attacking midfielders in the world. Already a veteran in the league but still a couple of years younger than college seniors entering the league, we’re on track to see her shine for a long time.

But she is already getting her (literal) flowers before she’s even allowed to buy a drink.

Ivy League Brain At Work

Thorns attacker Pietra Tordin is one of a handful of players to make it out of Ivy League soccer to the NWSL.

But the Princeton alum tends to use her brain in a different way from many Ivy League graduates, as she showed in warmups before Sunday’s game, rising up for a header.

Smile, You’re on Candid Camera!

Even in warmups, players are already on their game. But sometimes, they do notice when a camera lens is pointed their way.

Angel City’s Claire Emslie and Sarah Gorden did notice, leading to this snap of them breaking the fourth wall and looking straight down the lens.

Other Sports Takes and Things of Note: The Girls Are On Fire

Portland is quickly making its case as a premier city for women’s sports. The Thorns are already a long-standing community institution, the city is home to the first sports bar specifically dedicated to women’s sports: The Sports Bra. And now, it’s home once again to a WNBA team.

The original Portland Fire entered the WNBA in 2000 but folded after just three seasons in the league.

Nearly a quarter-century after the original Fire shut down, a new Portland Fire has emerged from the ashes.

The WNBA awarded an expansion team to Portland ahead of this season and the Fire have already become a magnet for a large, passionate fan base.

I skipped the press process and found a decently-priced ticket to just go as a fan for their matchup on Monday against the winless Connecticut Sun. And while neither team has exactly zoomed out of the gate to start the WNBA season, it was a recipe for a fun game that was close from wire-to-wire.

The Fire emerged with an 83-82 win, thanks to a game-high 18 points from shooting guards Bridget Carleton and Sarah Ashlee Barker.

Barker in particular showed herself to be a revelation on the court, constantly making hustle plays like saving loose balls and hitting the deck.

She has become a fan favorite already thanks to not just her fearless play but for calling a troll’s bluff this past offseason. Some content creator on the internet claimed that not a single WNBA player could beat him in basketball.

Barker, who is by no means an MVP contender yet but still a solid WNBA player often floating between the bench and the starting lineup since joining the league last season, took him up on it.

There was a camera, and Barker boasted that the guy had no chance. As you would expect, he did not. Barker won a 1-on-1 game to 11 points by an 11-2 margin.

Of course you want to watch her cook this idiot. Enjoy.

Something Good I Ate

Portland is heaven for foodies, and it may surprise you to learn that the food that Portland may do best is pizza. 

I headed to Ken’s Artisan Pizza last night, which can do some pretty funky pizzas very well.

 I got the mortadella and pistachio pizza, which was great, but possibly a little too funky, not because of the pistachio, but the hot mortadella. It kind of felt like having bologna on a pie, which was a bit off-putting. Everything else was delicious, including the crust, which was made of sourdough.

But the show-stealer was actually the Caesar salad, which I had at the urging of my wife, who was sitting an entire country away jealous of my ability to go to Ken’s. 

Ken’s Caesar is served with large romaine leaves, resembling the style of the original Caesar salad at Caesar’s restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico. But instead of one massive leaf, Ken’s serves it with several, as well as big slices of Parmesan and croutons that are well-seasoned and crispy. Some even have a burnt crust along the edges.

I don’t run to Caesar salads normally, and even then, this would not normally be the type of Caesar salad I would love, but this one was just phenomenally done. It was a big plate but I ate the whole thing, even when I usually cut out early to save room for a main course. 

Just fantastic stuff.

Just a note: Any opinions I express here are solely mine, and do not reflect the views of my employer, my coworkers, or anybody else affiliated with me. The newsletter is not monetized in any way and everything in here is written and reported with my own resources on my own time outside of my working hours unless specifically noted otherwise. “I’m Curious” is just for me, the author, and for you, the reader. Thank you for reading. I’m glad you’re here.