BEAVERTON, Ore. – For four straight years, Portland Thorns FC have been in the National Women’s Soccer League playoffs, but whereas the first three years of head coach Mark Parsons’ tenure have seen preparations for the postseason take place in Goose Hollow, in the team’s normal home at Providence Park, the run-in to Sunday’s semifinal in Chicago (12:30pm PT, ESPN2) finds the team training out in Beaverton, Oregon, a site usually dominated by the Portland Timbers’ day-to-day concerns.
This week, though – as is the case whenever the Thorns are preparing to go on the road and play on a grass field – the two-time NWSL champions are at the Timbers Training Center, using the week’s gap between regular season and playoffs to prepare for a relative rarity.