Portland Thorns stay at top of NWSL in 1-1 draw with Spirit #Portland #Thorns #stay #top #NWSL #draw #Spirit

Ashley Hatch’s goal in the final minutes pulled the Washington Spirit into a 1-1 draw with the Portland Thorns on Sunday in the National Women’s Soccer League.

Sophia Smith, the league’s top scorer and reigning NWSL Most Valuable Player, appeared to injure her right knee in the second half and was on crutches after the break.

Portland went ahead in the 63rd minute when Sam Coffey slipped a pass to Morgan Weaver in the box, who then chipped a shot into the goal with the outside of her foot. Coffey now has a league-leading seven assists.

Just as the match was ending, the Thorns were whistled for a handball in the box. Hatch put her penalty into the left corner in stoppage time to secure a draw for the Spirit (6-3-8) in front of 13,048 fans at Audi Field in Washington, D.C.

Five of Hatch’s nine goals this year have come from penalties.

The Thorns (8-4-5) remain at the top of a tight NWSL table with five matches left in the regular season.

Each NWSL team over the weekend wrote on their wrists or held up banners to show their support for Jenni Hermoso, the Spain Women’s World Cup champion who was kissed by the now-suspended president of the national federation.

COURAGE 1, RED STARS 1

Down a player for 70 minutes, the North Carolina Courage held on for a draw against the Chicago Red Stars at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina.

Tess Boade opened the scoring for the Courage in the 14th minute, with Tatumn Milazzo equalizing in the second half for Chicago.

Boade won the ball high up the field and found Kerolin, who chipped a return pass over the top to Boade. The forward scooped her shot over goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher for her first goal of the season.

With the assist, Kerolin — playing in her first match since featuring in the Women’s World Cup with Brazil — now has six goal contributions ( 5 goals, 1 assist ) in her last six regular season matches.

In the 21st minute, Courage defender Emily Fox received a red card for denying a goal-scoring opportunity after pulling back Bianca St-Georges as the last defender.

The Red Stars (5-10-2) used the extra player to put North Carolina under pressure and were rewarded in the 63rd minute when Milazzo headed in Julia Bianchi’s corner kick. Bianchi now has four assists from corner kicks this season, the most in the NWSL.

Kerolin had a chance to put the Courage up again in the 84th minute when she earned a penalty, but her shot from the spot went wide.

The draw kept the Courage (8-6-3) in second place.

ANGEL CITY 2, REIGN 1

Goals from Clarisse Le Bihan and Madison Hammond gave Angel City its first win over OL Reign in front of 22,000 fans at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.

In the 13th minute, Hammond sent a ball over the top to Scarlett Camberos. Reign goalkeeper Claudia Dickey came out to challenge the ball and missed it, leaving Camberos free to send a cross into the box, which Le Bihan put into the net.

Hammond doubled Angel City’s lead in the 57th minute, getting onto a free kick that slid through Dickey’s hands.

Megan Rapinoe — who will retire at the end of the NWSL season — subbed on at half and got one back for the Reign in the 74th, finishing a penalty into the lower left corner after Bethany Balcer was fouled in the box.

The loss marked the Reign’s (7-7-3) third straight in regular season play.

Angel City (5-6-6) is now unbeaten in nine straight matches across all competitions and hasn’t given up more than one goal during that stretch.

GOTHAM 0, LOUISVILLE 0

Gotham and Racing Louisville faced off in a match that had plenty of action but no goals, as the teams played to a scoreless draw at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey.

Gotham’s Yazmeen Ryan put a shot just wide in the ninth minute, and Katie Stengel had a shot clank off the post just before halftime.

Racing’s Katie Lund came up with two big saves to keep Ryan out of the net to start the second half. Ryan finished with six shots, and Lund had five saves for Louisville (4-4-9).

Thembi Kgatlana, who subbed on for Louisville and represented South Africa in the Women’s World Cup, had a near-post shot saved in the 77th minute.

Gotham (7-5-5) finished with 19 shots, compared to 10 for Racing.