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We can all exhale.
Sophia Wilson, the 25-year-old Portland Thorns and U.S. National Team striker extraordinaire, is exercising her $1 million contract option to remain with the club through 2026.
“Portland is where I started my career, and it’s where I’ve really grown up in a lot of ways,” Wilson said in the Thorns release.
Wilson has been a key player on the Thorns since she came to Portland as the NWSL’s number one college draft pick in 2020. Even that year, hampered by a foot injury and a piecemeal season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she showcased her tenacity in front of goal, scoring in that year’s NWSL Fall Series.
The next year, she scored seven goals in her first professional season—the most of anyone technically still in their rookie year—before putting up 14 in 2022, winning the title of league MVP and helping her team to a championship victory with her goal in the final. She then led the NWSL in goals in 2023 and was third in 2024—behind Kansas City’s Temwa Chawinga and the Orlando Pride’s Barbra Banda—before sitting out 2025 on maternity leave.
With newborn Gianna at six months come the NWSL’s 2026 kickoff, questions about Wilson’s return to the Thorns have surrounded the team since the club dipped out of playoffs last month.
“She is an exceptional global star that can change the game in an instant,” Thorns general manager Jeff Agoos said in Portland’s release.
And he’s right: Wilson has proven herself to be an absolute nightmare to defend against—in both the domestic and international worlds of soccer. She’s smart, technical and has the uncanny ability to beat multiples of opponents who are stepping up to dispossess her and get off a shot, despite those opponents being very aware of the threat she poses.
She’s the perfect player to plug back into a young and motivated squad, whose biggest weaknesses last season were their inconsistency—Wilson’s shown herself to have the composure to be a regular threat in front of the net and the willingness to drop back and win the ball when her team isn’t in possession—and lack of a world-class goal scorer.
“Sophia will strengthen our roster’s attack as we build on the success we saw in 2025,” Agoos said, “and we are happy that she will represent and fight for this incredible soccer community next season.”
