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Mackenzie Arnold goes looking for trouble. Then she sends it screaming in the other direction.
Take the Portland Thorns’ matchup against Bay FC earlier this month. After Portland conceded an early goal in the 36th minute, the Bay was on the attack again three minutes later when Dorian Bailey received the ball in the Thorns’ box. The unmarked Bailey found the late run of Alyssa Malonson, who pinged a shot at Arnold’s far post.
But somehow Arnold was there. Extending her left arm, she pushed with enough power to tip the ball beyond the net. The block was voted NWSL’s Save of the Week and (more importantly) gave Portland a fighting chance; they went on to win the matchup 2–1 off a pair of Olivia Moultrie goals.
Arnold and the Portland Thorns’ determination has clinched the club a spot in the NWSL’s postseason, with one game to spare. They’re now vying for a top-four finish in the league table, which would allow Portland to host their first-round matchup.
That’s not a bad state of affairs for a season shrouded in injuries and relying heavily on fresh-faced youngsters. But Arnold and the rest of this year’s Thorns have always believed in the abilities of their team. Arnold hasn’t always extended that faith to herself.
“Whenever Mac is behind me, I feel confident,” defender Isabella Obaze said after a tough loss to the Utah Royals in August. “Her presence is so important. I feel safe when she’s behind me.”
Arnold was brought into the Thorns midseason in 2024, onto a Portland squad that was in something of an identity crisis amid coaching changes and weird roster construction. The squad this year is different: They’re not the star-studded, playoff shoo-in team of old, but they’re a relentless and talented group who really believe in one another.
“The girls have been the best bunch of girls that I’ve ever played with,” Arnold told the media ahead of the Thorns’ recent 1–0 loss to the Orlando Pride. “They’ve always supported me and told me what they appreciate in me and that they need me. With them, I’ve been able to focus on myself and getting myself right.”
Arnold had a less than convincing start to her time in Rose City. In her first nine appearances for the Thorns, she allowed an average of two goals per game and saved only 60% of the shots she faced (“Hey, Arnold,” WW, Sept. 24, 2024). It’s really only in the second half of 2025 that Arnold has begun to find her footing and solidify her starting role in front of Portland’s net. Despite an injury-riddled first half of the year, Arnold has saved 71% of the shots she’s faced this year.
That renewed confidence shows up in Arnold’s improved positioning, in her ability to bail the Thorns out of danger with a massive save.
And there are the things Arnold is known for doing well: her confidence in coming off her line, her distribution ability, her knack for saving penalty kicks.
In an interview with WW in June, Thorns goalkeeper coach Jordan Felgate talked about some of the areas he emphasizes in his coaching: “You have to be comfortable in possession,” he said. “You have to be comfortable with both feet. You have to be able to see counterattacking opportunities coming, taking a cross, and pinging that ball over the top.”
It’s a skill set Arnold built upon in the more possession-based style of English soccer, where she last played club ball, Felgate said.
It wasn’t adapting that distribution to the fast-paced, transitional nature of the NWSL that proved a stumbling block for Arnold. She says she’s struggled more with learning to play with a rotating cast of defenders in front of her (“but that’s football,” she adds) and with feeling the weight of expectations around her signing.
“I put so much pressure on myself,” Arnold says, “trying to come into this league and make an impact and be there for my team and win over the fans—which has proven harder than I thought.”
Her shaky beginnings for the Thorns—along with fans’ attachment to homegrown goalkeeper Bella Bixby—have turned out to be something of an obstacle to Arnold earning the favor of some Portland supporters.
Thorns head coach Rob Gale alluded to negative feelings toward Arnold among Portland fans in his media availability after the Thorns played the San Diego Wave to a draw in September.
“We have been made aware of negativity towards Thorns players from our stands and this is unacceptable to us,” the Rose City Riveters supporters group shared to social media a week and a half after Gale’s comment. The group emphasized its support of “ALL of the players who wear our crest.”
Arnold felt the weight of wearing the Thorns crest and the club’s three stars above her heart.
“I was trying to prove everybody wrong all the time,” she says. “And at the end of the day, I didn’t really have anything to prove because I wasn’t playing as bad as I thought.”
It’s Arnold’s teammates who helped her build back her confidence. They awarded her a clear endorsement: voting her co-captain of the squad, alongside Sam Coffey.
“The social side, the togetherness in the dressing room, a lot of that is created by Mac,” Gale said after the San Diego match.
Adds forward Reilyn Turner: “She is very encouraging. She helps us stay calm. And her distribution is like no other.”
Arnold’s enthusiasm for her teammates has contributed to the tight-knit nature of this year’s squad.
“I always love having my friends around,” she says, “but I think it’s a credit to the whole locker room because we’re all really good friends.”
Cheesy as it may sound, the power of those friendships is an integral part of this year’s team off the pitch—and their success on it. They’ll need to harness that cohesiveness and fight for each other as they enter the win-or-go-home matches of the NWSL postseason.
