Portland Welcomes USWNT, Preps for New Pro Team

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Portland, OR-(November 28, 2012)-An enthusiastic crowd greeted the U.S. Women's national soccer team as they faced off against the Republic of Ireland in the sixth match of their fan tribute tour, which began in September. Despite temperatures that hovered in the mid forties, over ten thousand fans came out to support the team that captured their third consecutive Olympic gold medal this past August in London.

With interim coach Jill Ellis in control of the team until the end of the year, the U.S. women were able to give her a victory tonight after securing a 5-0 win at JELD-WEN Field, home to the MLS Portland Timbers.

Though the U.S. Women dominated the first half with possession it wasn't until the 24th minute that forward Alex Morgan was able to slide a shot past Ireland's keeper Emma Byrne when the ball bounced in off the left post.

Morgan quickly added another one only ten minutes later when she knocked in her second goal of the night with an assist from midfielder Lauren Cheney. 

The "Alex Morgan Show" continued into the 44th minute when she struck a shot past the diving Byrne who was helpless to stop Morgan's third goal of the night.

That brings her to 27 goals on the year as Morgan continues to quickly climb up the record books of the national team. She now has 37 goals in only 54 appearances for the U.S. It was also her second career hat trick for the USA, the first coming against Sweden in the Algarve Cup last spring.

Coach Ellis subbed quite liberally in the second half of the game and forward Sydney Leroux wasted no time in proving her value off the bench as the team's current super sub. She headed in the 4th goal of the night for the U.S. in the 62nd minute off of an assist from Heather O'Reilly. She then added her second goal of the night in the 81st minute, which brings her total for the year to twelve, a U.S. Women's record for a reserve player. 

Tonight's game served as a bit of an appetizer for the city which will see Portland occupy one of the eight regions in the country that will host a new women's professional team in the spring.

The announcement came last week from U.S. Soccer that the yet to be named league will begin this spring with a 22 game season stretching into September or October. 

While most of the teams will not be operated in conjunction with a MLS team, Portland Timbers owner and president Merritt Paulson recently committed to joining forces with U.S. Soccer and will operate one of the eight teams. 

Paulson held a press conference during halftime of the game tonight and addressed the media with clear excitement about the new professional league having a home in Portland. 

He was quick to point out that if this league is going to succeed anywhere than Portland with a strong soccer fan base would be a city that could make that possible. Paulson also added that the league would start in April (something U.S. Soccer has yet to confirm) and he expressed the belief that his team would feature at least a couple familiar faces to the Portland area. 

Megan Rapinoe may easily be one of them. She played her college career at the University of Portland and would be a huge draw if she were able to return to her Oregon roots. One of the most recognizable players from the national team with a huge personality on and off the field, she should find herself as one of the most sought out members of the national team once players are divvied up for the new league. After the game she reiterated her desire to return to Portland.

"I would definitely like to end up here, obviously. I have a place here now and I love this city so I think eventually I will be back here."

Rapinoe also weighed in with her thoughts on the direction that the new league is taking.

“I think the way that we are starting now on a smaller scale, more of a semi-professional scale is going to be good. To be playing in this stadium and having it sell out would be great but I don’t think that’s realistic. Playing a little bit smaller venue where the atmosphere is pretty pumping-and then kind of grow it from there.”

Abby Wambach has also been vocal about her love for the city of Portland and has recently bought a house in the area. Though originally from Rochester, which will field a team in the new league as well, it would not be a huge surprise if Wambach preferred to play a little closer to her new home.

While the details of the new professional league continue to come forth the U.S. Women will continue their victory tour with their next stop in Glendale, AZ on Dec. 1st at 9:30pm EST. The match will once again be played against Ireland and can be seen on FOX Soccer. The last three games of the tour will be played in December against China; tickets and further info can be found at ussoccer.com. 

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