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Sky Blue FC Faces Top-Ranked Portland Thorns FC on Saturday

July 1, 2016 - National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
Sky Blue FC News Release


Portland, Ore. - Sky Blue FC (3-3-4, 13 points) will return to National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) action on Saturday night, playing a road fixture with top-ranked Portland Thorns FC (6-0-5, 23 points) at Providence Park. Kickoff for the match is slated for 10:30 p.m. ET, and fans can watch all of the action live in HD via YouTube.

"We are excited to go into Portland and build on the solid foundation that we have established over our last few games," said Christy Holly, Sky Blue FC head coach. "We as a team are moving in the right direction and consistently playing at a high level right now. Portland is a very well-coached team, and we look forward to the challenge that they will present us on Saturday evening."

Sky Blue FC is unbeaten over its past four matches, coming off a big win last weekend where it became the first NWSL team this season to score a goal as well as defeat the Washington Spirit at the Maryland SoccerPlex. In that contest, the New Jersey side jumped out to a 2-0 advantage behind tallies by Raquel Rodriguez and Sam Kerr, with both notches being assisted by Leah Galton. Washington did pull within one following a late goal from Diana Matheson, but goalkeeper Caroline Stanley and the Sky Blue FC back line kept the slate clean the rest of the way to hang a final 2-1 score line.

Portland enters Saturday night on the heels of a dramatic 2-1 comeback victory over the Orlando Pride. Playing their second fixture in just five days, Dagny Brynjarsdottir leveled the count at 1-1 in the 80th minute of that encounter before Lindsey Horan put away the game-winner in the 90th minute.

Historically, Sky Blue FC is the leader in this rivalry with a record of 5-2-2, outscoring the Thorns, 9-7. The New Jersey club has also gotten the better of the two at Providence Park with an overall resume of 3-2-0, currently just one of two NWSL clubs that has been able to defeat them multiple times at their home venue over the past four seasons (Seattle Reign FC).

Following its road outing with Portland Thorns FC on Saturday, July 2nd, Sky Blue FC team will return to Yurcak Field on Saturday, July 9th, to host the Houston Dash. Tickets for that match are available now. Additionally, all fans who eat at Quaker Steak & Lube in Edison before the game will receive free parking for the match.

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