Thorns beat Reign 2-1 to advance to NWSL title game

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Tobin Heath and Lindsey Horan scored and the Portland Thorns advanced to the National Women’s Soccer League championship game with a 2-1 semifinal victory over the Seattle Reign on Saturday.

The defending NWSL champion Thorns (13-6-6) will play the winner of the other semifinal between the Chicago Red Stars and the North Carolina Courage for the title next Saturday at Portland’s Providence Park.

The semifinal between the Courage (17-1-6) and Red Stars (9-5-10) was originally set for Sunday in Cary, but the game was moved to Tuesday night in Portland because of Hurricane Florence.

The move left the Courage, who finished with the best record in the league, without a postseason game at home. The NWSL named its championship venue in May.

The Reign went up first in the 28th minute when Megan Rapinoe’s corner kick appeared to hit the cross bar and carom straight to Jasmyne Spencer, who scored.

Horan was challenged by defenders and handed the ball off to Heath, whose shot from the corner of the box n the 43rd minute to tie it.

Heath appeared to score again in the 69th minute but she was called offside. The crowd roared with boos when the replay shown on the video scoreboard showed she wasn’t.

Horan scored the go-ahead goal in the 77th minute on a header that bounced in off the post. It was her 14th of the season.

“Obviously we were ready,” Thorns goalkeeper Adrianna France said afterward. “That was a wild game. The first half, they came down our throats but we stayed in it and we got the job done.”

The Thorns defeated the Reign 3-1 in the regular-season finale last week. With the win, the Thorns secured home-field advantage for the semifinal.

Neither Rapinoe nor Allie Long played last week but both played in the semifinal. Long had missed the last three games with a knee injury while Rapinoe had rib soreness and missed the team’s last two.