Seattle Reign Lose Cascadia Rivalry Match to Shorthanded Portland Thorns
By Becca Weinberg
Portland, OR - In their second match of the 2026 NWSL season and the 44th edition of the Cascadia rivalry, the Seattle Reign fell to the Portland Thorns by a final score of 0-2. Despite early fouls that left Portland competing with only nine players for most of the second half, Seattle looked disorganized and failed to create any attacking opportunities throughout the match.
Photos from the Seattle Reign loss to the Portland Thorns at Providence Park on March 20th, 2026. (Photos by Jane Gershovich, provided by Seattle Reign FC)
Both of Portland’s first-half goals came after midfielder Cassandra Bogere received two yellow cards just 10 minutes in, which became the earliest red card send-off in NWSL history. Playing at that point with only 10 players didn’t appear to slow the Thorns down, as their first goal came in the 28th minute. Forward Pietra Tordin connected with a cross from midfielder Olivia Moultrie and flicked it with her head past Reign goalkeeper Claudia Dickey for the 1-0 lead.
"When they went down to 10, I felt that we just wanted to force it,” said head coach Laura Harvey postgame. “We felt like we needed to score immediately, and I didn't think we needed to do that. We needed to move the ball and shift them and make them run, and we didn't do that enough. And I think that was our downfall, is we just kept trying to force things instead of moving the ball and being a little bit patient."
Just nine minutes later, the Thorns doubled their lead with a transition attack that was created again by Moultrie. She passed to Tordin at midfield, who slotted a ball into speedy forward Reilyn Turner right outside the 18-yard box. Turner took two touches before shooting into the far post and putting the Thorns up 2-0 before halftime.
“The last 30, 40 minutes they just have eight people in the box,” said Fishlock postgame. “So then you have to think different, you have to play different, and we just didn’t do that, we didn’t adapt to what they were doing at all.”
“This game is going to be a really hard, difficult, painful lesson for all of us,” Fishlock said later.
Portland was further reduced to nine players in the 57th minute after defender Reyna Reyes was shown a straight red card for violent conduct involving Reign defender Madison Curry. Seattle continued to struggle and, as a result, only recorded four shots on goal all game. The Thorns walked away with an emphatic victory in an all-around disappointing match for the Reign.
Quick match notes from Reign PR
Sofia Cedeño entered the match in the 78th minute to make her NWSL debut. The 19-year-old signed with the club on December 8, 2025 through the 2028 season.
Third-year defender Madison Curry made her 50th NWSL regular-season appearance, starting 46 of those matches. Since joining the Reign ahead of the 2025 season, Curry has appeared in all 28 regular-season matches, earning 26 starts.
With a 90-minute performance, Sofia Huerta moved into fourth all-time in NWSL regular-season minutes played (17,346). She now trails Lauren Barnes (21,109), Alyssa Naeher (18,871) and co-captain Jess Fishlock (17,636).
After signing with Seattle on March 13 from Vancouver Rise FC, Holly Ward made her NWSL debut as a substitute in the 68th minute.
With tonight's result, Reign FC now holds an all-time record of 16-18-10 against Portland Thorns FC across all competitions.
Seattle will look to bounce back at home against the Kansas City Current on March 25th at 6 PM. This will be one of the three matches being played at One Spokane Stadium while Lumen Field undergoes renovations ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Instagram: @CirclingSeattleSports Twitter: @CirclingSports Threads: @CirclingSeattleSports Tiktok: @CirclingSeattleSports Facebook: Circling Seattle Sports BlueSky: @circlingseasports.bsky.social
〰️
Instagram: @CirclingSeattleSports Twitter: @CirclingSports Threads: @CirclingSeattleSports Tiktok: @CirclingSeattleSports Facebook: Circling Seattle Sports BlueSky: @circlingseasports.bsky.social 〰️
Check out our previous Seattle Reign FC articles here.
Check out our previous articles written for CSS by Becca Weinberg here, and her work with Lookout Landing here.
Photos in this article by Jane Gershovich, provided by Seattle Reign FC
Support the work of Circling Seattle Sports by checking out our merchandise!