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Sometimes, in soccer, there isn’t a clear winner. So it was on Friday, when the Thorns played the first-place Gotham FC to a 2-2 draw in Providence Park.
That isn’t to say Portland was without victories.
The club celebrated its annual Pride night, complete with rainbow fireworks, a featured scarf from local artist blcksmth and appearances from local drag queens. Rookie Renee Lyles scored in her first regular season start with the club, and Sophia Wilson wreaked havoc on Gotham’s defense (despite not getting her name on the scoresheet). Fan favorite Morgan Weaver earned her first minutes for the team since November 2024, while new signing Nina Nijstad made her own debut.
And the Thorns were able to pull out of their two-game losing streak—against the star-filled, reigning league champions, no less.
But there were also fumbles. Portland was simply too slow out of the gates, and Gotham took advantage with a goal in the second minute. “We were a little bit asleep,” Weaver said postgame.
The Thorns fought back to tie the game in the 21st minute—and then got the go-ahead tally off a deflected Jessie Fleming shot at the beginning of the second half.
And then they left a loose ball on a corner kick for NWSL all-time best goalscorer Sam Kerr, and she leveled it for Gotham.
Ten minutes later, Kerr received the ball near the center of the field and tried to make a break for it. But Thorns defender Jayden Perry pulled Kerr down—earning herself a red card for a “denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity” for her efforts.
Portland was down to 10 players for the final minutes of the game.
Even off the field, there was also a tension in the air: The day before, the Rose City Riveters steering committee—representing the official supporters’ group of the Thorns—had shared an open letter to their club’s front office and ownership group.
The group expressed their concern with Portland’s new partnership with Treasure AI, a self-professed “agentic experience platform built for modern marketing teams.” The announcement video, released on Monday, featured footage of the Thorns and Portland Fire — and of their supporters.
“Being featured in an ad that promotes the use of AI without our consent is a profound violation of our community,” the Riveters wrote. “We have built our identity through genuine human connection, passion, and over 13 years of dedicated volunteer effort—things that an algorithm can never replicate or understand.”
Between the Treasure AI partnership and the Riveters feeling that their complaints about the club’s Ring sponsorship were largely unacknowledged, the group fears that the team “is headed in the wrong direction.”
Despite their gripes with the Thorns front office—and their ethical opposition to the generative AI technologies that have spread across the internet—the Riveters turned out to cheer their team through Friday’s matchup.
“The players are at the heart of what we do,” they wrote, “and supporting them is vital.”
And they turned out in droves; the match marked Portland’s largest home attendance since fans bid farewell to Portland soccer legend Christine Sinclair in November 2024.
“I love Portland, and everyone knows that,” Weaver said. “I couldn’t ask for a better home match to come to.”
