What The Heart Wants

2017 NWSL Championship

Dalen Cuff: Six months of grit, grind, and determination has now boiled down to 90 minutes. The top two teams in the regular season take the field today to decide which one of them will join FC Kansas City as a two-time NWSL champion. It's the Portland Thorns and the North Carolina Courage, next on Lifetime.

The pre-game coverage of the NWSL Championship began with Dalen's voiceover of highlights from the two semifinals. Once the introductory montage completed, Dalen welcomed viewers and introduced his partners for the day, Aly Wagner and Julie Foudy. Shots of the teams warming up were shown, followed by a pair of interviews, with Aly speaking to Meghan Klingenberg and Julie to Lynn Williams.

After a set of commercials, Jenn Hildreth gave the starting lineups and the two teams progressed out from the tunnel, as Abby Erceg and Christine Sinclair led their sides out to the center of the field. As the players progressed past one another and exchanged handshakes, Jenn and Aly went over the keys to the game while they awaited referee Danielle Chesky to blow her whistle and signal the start of the match.

Business got off to a brisk start from the opening kick-off and the first twist in the match came in the 3rd minute, as Tobin Heath took down Taylor Smith, causing her to land on her right shoulder. After coming off the field temporarily, she returned only to be subbed off in the 12th minute for Makenzy Doniak, which meant Kristen Hamilton would drop back into Smith's right back position. Two minutes later, Sam Mewis attempted to catch Adrianna Franch off her line with a midfield shot that rang off the crossbar. Lindsey Horan nearly got her name in the book for a foul on McCall Zerboni, but only received a talking-to from Chesky. The game continued to be physical, with Hamilton having to leave the match in the 39th minute with a knee injury, the result of an overextension on a tackle against Heath. Jessica McDonald came on and Doniak dropped back to defense. The North Carolina bench rode the fourth official for a while about Heath's dangerous play and wondered why she had yet to receive a booking for her efforts. That pressure led to a pair of yellow cards being shown to the Thorns in the waning minutes of the first half (Heath in the 41st minute and Hayley Raso in the first minute of stoppage time). Four minutes of added time elapsed before Chesky blew for halftime with the game still scoreless.

The second half started with a near-goal from the Courage two minutes in, as a Williams shot was saved by Franch, but landed at McDonald's feet, who whiffed on her attempt and the Ashley Hatch follow-up went wide of net. In the 50th minute, a free kick about 45 yards from goal on the left hand side was taken by Emily Sonnett. Her lob forward barely cleared the head of Abby Dahlkemper and bounced twice before coming across the path of Horan, who volleyed a right-footed shot over Katelyn Rowland's shoulder to stake the Thorns to a 1-0 lead.

Portland made two substitutions over the next 20 minutes, with Dagny Brynjarsdottir entering for Ashleigh Sykes and Nadia Nadim for Raso. Horan got a second warning from Chesky for a foul on Mewis just before a Doniak serve cleared the Thorns' back line and found McDonald, who collided with Franch attempting to win it, resulting in a free kick for Portland. A minute later, Brynsjarsdottir was booked for a tackle from behind on Denise O'Sullivan, who would be replaced in the 87th minute by Stephanie Ochs. As the Courage began pressing forward, Franch came up big with several saves, including one just under the crossbar on an Erceg chip in the 90th minute and another on a flicked-on McDonald throw-in from Mewis one minute later. Amandine Henry left the match for Allie Long in the third minute of stoppage time and, following a handful of last-chance attempts by North Carolina, Chesky blew the match for full time after nearly six additional minutes, giving the Thorns their second NWSL title and their captain her fourth US professional soccer championship, having won titles in 2010 with FC Gold Pride and 2011 with the Western New York Flash in Women's Professional Soccer and in the NWSL's inaugural season of 2013 with the Thorns.

The on-field celebrations began immediately after the final whistle, with Franch running into the stands to get a Thorns flag to wave and drape on her shoulders. Interviews around the pitch began as well, with Cuff questioning Horan and Foudy catching up with Mewis. The traditional walk of champions commenced shortly thereafter with the Courage approaching the stage to receive their runner-up medals from NWSL Managing Director Amanda Duffy. As the last members of their staff descended the stairs, the Thorns made their way forward to collect their champions' medals and additional hardware.

With Cuff on-stage, Duffy announced that Horan had been selected as the game's Most Valuable Player. She came forward at the insistence of Sonnett to accept her award and said a few words in another short interview with Cuff, crediting the team and Sonnett specifically for her service on the free kick that resulted in her goal. Cuff turned back to Duffy, who beckoned Sinclair forward to receive the NWSL Championship trophy. Once the entire team had come forward and surrounded their captain, the trophy was lifted, with the team bouncing on the stage and confetti streaming down over them.

While that was going on, Sam and Abby made their way over to the Courage's supporter section to thank them for their support and to see Kristie and Steph. The four of them exchanged hugs which lasted for a while. Kristie asked the two of them to pose for a picture that she could put on the Sporting Chic site. Sam and Abby stood next to each other, only for their sister to ask them to back up a couple of steps so she could get a full-body shot of the pair. Once re-positioned, Sam and Abby faced each other somewhat, their hands intertwined. Abby leaned across and pecked Sam's cheek right when Kristie took the picture. In a few seconds, she had already uploaded it to Instagram for their followers to see. A few members in the section seemed a bit put-off by the public display of affection between the two players, which Steph responded to by telling them that they were number 1. Sam saw this and laughed, then she and Abby walked toward the tunnel hand-in-hand, stopping near the sideline to watch the continued celebrations at the other end of the field and to see what Lindsey and Emily might do.

Cuff and Foudy each did one more interview with Thorns players, as Dalen had corralled Sinclair and Foudy tracked down Sonnett. Once that was completed, Emily found Lindsey and the two of them arrived just in time for the official team picture, with them literally sliding into it in front of the rest of the team, their hands connected. Cuff caught Portland coach Mark Parsons for an interview, during which Lindsey and Emily went over to the Rose City Riveters (the Thorns' official supporters group) and posed for some selfies with them. A few of the group wanted to get pics of Lindsey with her MVP trophy. Emily photobombed her, reaching over her shoulders and placing heart hands over her heart. Upon Lindsey's urging, Emily came out from behind her and stood on the opposite side of the trophy, where the two held it and kissed the ball on it. A few seconds later, they pulled back the trophy and repeated the action, their lips meeting this time. The Riveters let out a near-defeaning roar at the sight of their favorite unofficial couple making a public declaration of their togetherness.

The Thorns players started making their way back to their locker room. Lindsey and Emily saw Sam and Abby waiting near the tunnel and walked over to them. The four of them exchanged hugs, with Lindsey and Sam showing off some new-fangled handshake and Emily trying to lay down on their arms. Abby shook her head at the three of them and they all walked into the tunnel together, the couples holding hands and Lindsey and Sam with their arms around each other's shoulders.

Portland 1 North Carolina 0 (Horan/Sonnett)