Deyna Castellanos and Jessie Fleming picked the perfect time to score their first goals in more than six months, and the Portland Thorns clinched a home game in the NWSL playoffs by beating the Houston Dash 2-0 on Sunday at Providence Park in their regular-season finale in front of a season-high 21,903 fans.
With the victory, Portland (11-8-7, 40 points) moved up from sixth place to claim the third seed in the NWSL postseason, and will host No. 6 seed San Diego in a quarterfinal match to be played Friday, Saturday or Sunday. The Thorns have reached the playoffs for a record ninth consecutive season and will look to add to a fourth championship since the league began play in 2013.
Castellanos’ goal was the earliest in any game this season for Portland, coming in the third minute. She ran onto a long through ball down the left wing by Fleming, cut around two defenders, and curled a shot from the top of the penalty box that hit the inside of the right post and caromed into the net for her first tally since April 22.
The Venezuelan national in her first season with the Thorns came into the match with the fourth-most shots on target on the team, but had scored just the one goal.
Fleming extended the lead in the 35th minute as the Dash cracked again under Portland’s persistent pressure. A Houston clearance attempt ricocheted into the path of Fleming, who shook off a Dash defender who was draped over her and poked a shot that Houston goalkeeper Jane Campbell got a mitt on but couldn’t keep out. Fleming’s only other league goal over 51 games and two NWSL seasons in Portland was a penalty kick back on April 27.
Despite a rash of injuries plus retirements and maternity absences that left the Thorns fielding a young, inexperienced roster compared to 2024, Portland bettered its standing from a year ago, when it finished in sixth place. Now the Thorns will hope to advance further in the postseason than in 2024, when they fell 2-1 on the road to Gotham FC in the quarterfinals.
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Portland improved to 18-6-5 all-time against Houston (8-12-6, 30 points), which came into Sunday eliminated from playoff contention and had four shot attempts to Portland’s 15. The Thorns finish the regular season 7-2-4 at home and have won consecutive games for the second time this year.
The scariest moment for the Thorns came in the 16th minute, when Houston’s Avery Patterson, who had been on the sideline getting injury treatment, broke loose down the left wing after being waved back onto the field by the referee and played a pass to Yazmeen Ryan, who had an opening to shoot but waited just long enough that Portland’s Reyna Reyes was able to recover and poke the ball away to end the threat.
The Thorns nearly made it 3-0 near the halftime whistle when Olivia Moultrie, who has become a free kick specialist, just grazed the outside of the left post on a free kick from 25 yards out.
Portland goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold made three saves, but all were fairly simple as the Thorns mostly prevented Houston from building up attacking opportunities.
The Thorns played without defender M.A. Vignola, who injured her ankle in training last week, as well as forward Pietra Tordin, who was scratched from the list of available substitutes before the game.
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