Soccer Monday: Sinclair gets her flowers, Liv gets her brace

In a way, Saturday night at Providence Park symbolized the thread between Portland eras. On one end was Christine Sinclair, the OG of the Portland Thorns, seeing her name forever enshrined in the stadiums Ring of Honor.

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On the other end, was Olivia Moultrie, who fought so hard just to play for the Thorns, getting her first brace, and becoming the youngest Portland player to have one, in a 2-1 victory over Bay FC.

Sinclair made 237 appearances with the Thorns, scoring a club-record 82 goals across all competitions. She was with the team since the NWSL’s inception in 2013.

“I literally grew up here. These fans this organization, through the good times, the bad times. The wins, the losses. We all stuck together. Pretty remarkable,” Sinclair told some TV reporters just briefly before the match. But in typical fashion, there was no press conference in the days leading up to the ceremony or afterward.

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Several people were at the match in support of her, including Emily Menges, Lauren Holiday (and her husband Jrue Holiday, who now plays for the Portland Trail Blazers), and even former Canada women’s coach John Herdman. Sophia Smith and Brandi Chastain left video messages. On the field, she was accompanied by her nieces.

“Standing here tonight as the first player to have their number retired by the Thorns is truly humbling, but also I don’t know who else would want to wear No. 12,” she said to the crowd. “Look, when I played, I never set out for the records, or recognition, only to give everything I had for the game I loved, for this team and for this city. To know that this jersey will hang forever as part of Portland’s history is an honor beyond words, and my hope is that this legacy isn’t just about me, but about what comes next, that the next generation of soccer stars, especially the kids here tonight, will believe that anything is possible when you give your heart to the game.”

One kid who has given their heart to the game was about to take the field. Moultrie had shared a hug with Sinclair earlier in the evening.

Sinclair was always a sort of mentor to Moultrie, and it was clear after the match how much that relationship meant to the 20-year-old.

“I mean, honestly, she’s like a freaking goal magnet. She has really refined the art of just be in the right place at the right time. I remember in training sessions, we’d get in and around the box and sometimes I would stop looking the ball and I would just look at her, and just look where she was going, I’m like, `How do you always just like, find it?’

“I tried to learn a lot from her. And in terms of everything else she’s been a really fun person to play with, to learn from. In the last year we worked together she just kind of tried to lend everything that she had. It was really cool. And just to be able to collaborate with her, and it was a really special experience for me.”

Moultrie is Portland’s leading scorer this season with six goals. She is the eighth Thorn overall to reach at least 15 goals and the sixth to have at least 15 goals and 10 assists (Sinclair was one of the others). It’s always amazing to look at Moultrie’s veteran numbers and realize she’s still has much more of her career in front of her.

After the 2-1 victory over Bay Portland is now 9-7-7 and after the weekend’s matches was in fourth in the standings.

Moultrie’s second goal came off a free kick. It was the team’s second goal off a free kick this season, most in the league. Moultrie says she’s kind of obsessive about practicing them. Which makes sense, because she’s fanatical about her game.

While she has a vastly different personality, her work ethic is very similar to Carli Lloyd’s, always staying late at practice, always putting in the extra work. That’s why the mentorship with Sinclair was important for someone as intense as Moultrie.

“She was a cool cucumber,” Moultrie said about Sinclair. “So what I’ve learned is just like the ups are never too high and the lows are never too low. And I think that’s what’s important to get you through a season and to get you through year after year. So that’s definitely something I’ve tried to channel from her, she’s like keep you’re cool, keep on keeping on. She’s really good at that.”

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