The Portland Thorns will be without Sophia Wilson this year, club’s future now even less certain

Credit: © Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

“Overwhelming” is usually the word Portland Thorns opponents would use to describe the feeling of playing the jewel of the Pacific Northwest. Yet while she spoke with media in Beverly Hills in January, Thorns midfielder Sam Coffey deployed the adjective in a different context — namely, the amounts of change the organization has seen at every possible level over the past year.

“We are turning the page,” Coffey said during the league’s first-ever Media Day on Jan. 25, in Los Angeles. “There’s a lot of change, there’s a lot of movement, and that can feel overwhelming sometimes.”

Three National Women’s Soccer League titles, two NWSL shields and the best historical attendance in the league speak to a club that hardly ever puts a foot wrong. Only once have the Thorns missed the NWSL playoffs. Two players have been named NWSL Most Valuable Player while wearing Thorns colors. A legend like Christine Sinclair never played a single NWSL minute for another club. Becky Sauerbrunn ended her career there; Sophia Wilson (née Smith) began hers there. Alex Morgan, Lindsey Heaps (née Horan), Tobin Heath and Crystal Dunn have all spent multiple seasons calling Providence Park home. In all respects of their on-field history, the Thorns represent the best of the NWSL.

Things look rather overwhelming now.

New ownership, a new GM only hired in January, some high-profile retirements, a raft of season-ending injuries and one superstar stepping away for maternity leave has left the Thorns with a barren roster, a worst-case scenario for trying and failing to restock the roster in 2024. How the Thorns find success in 2025 is a rapidly expanding mystery.