Portland Thorns FC Announce Preseason Roster; Season Begins April Ninth

Training Camp begins for the Portland Thorns FC on Tuesday, so they officially announced the team’s preseason roster on Monday.

• Two Goalkeepers: Bella Bixby, Adrianna Franch
• Eight Defenders: Kelli Hubly, Meghan Klingenberg, Natalia Kuikka (INTL), Emily Menges, Meaghan Nally, Madison Pogarch, Becky Sauerbrunn, Christen Westphal
• Six Midfielders: Celeste Boureille (NYR), Crystal Dunn, Lindsey Horan (NYR), Rocky Rodríguez, Angela Salem, Christine Sinclair
• Five Forwards: Simone Charley, Marissa Everett, Tyler Lussi, Sophia Smith (NYR), Morgan Weaver
• NYR – Not Yet Reported (to camp); INTL – International Player;

Four of the Thorns — Dunn, Horan, Sauerbrunn and Smith — were also named to the U.S. Women’s National Team 23-player roster for the SheBelieves Cup also featuring Brazil, Canada and Argentina.

The SheBelieves Cup is “three doubleheader events” on Feb. 18, 21 and 24 in Orlando.

If you’re wondering why the Thorns four draft picks from mid-January — Yazmeen Ryan (TCU), Sam Coffey (Penn State), Amirah Ali (Rutgers) and Hannah Betfort (Wake Forest) — aren’t on the above roster, don’t panic.

Ryan, Coffey, Ali and Betfort are going to play with their colleges during the Spring 2021 NCAA season. The Thorns still retain their NWSL rights.

The games begin on April 9 with the Challenge Cup in home markets. Then, 24 regular season NWSL games start on May 15 and wrap up on Oct. 30.

The format for the Challenge Cup, along with the full regular season schedule, will be announced at a later date.

Six teams will qualify for an expanded playoffs that commence on Nov. 9 with the NWSL Championship on Nov. 20. The first two seeds earn a first-round bye.

The league is not taking a break for the 2021 Summer Olympics.

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