The Portland Thorns attempt to bolster their National Women’s Soccer League playoff chances on Saturday with a match against Sky Blue FC at Piscataway, N.J.
Kickoff is at 4 p.m., and a live webstream is planned at portlandthornsfc.com.
With three games left in the season the Thorns (6-7-4, 22 points) enter the weekend in fifth place, one point ahead of Houston.
The Dash lost 3-0 on Friday at first-place Seattle.
Portland is three points behind fourth-place FC Kansas City and six points back of third-place Chicago.
The top four teams in the nine-team league make the playoffs.
This match might include the return of Alex Morgan to the Thorns lineup.
Morgan played a half hour and scored a goal on Wednesday for the U.S. Women’s National Team in a 7-2 win over Costa Rica during the team’s Victory Tour match in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Tobin Heath, who made her 100th national team appearance and played 64 minutes on Wednesday, is expected to play for the Thorns Saturday.
Sky Blue (4-7-6, 18 points) is in eighth place, seven points back of fourth place.
On Friday, the Thorns announced they signed defender Alyssa Kleiner and waived forward Hanna Terry. Kleiner, 22, has appeared in seven matches this season (three starts) for Portland an amateur player.
Timbers 2 host Tulsa
Portland Timbers 2 plays host to the Tulsa Roughnecks at 2 p.m. Saturday at the University of Portland’s Merlo Field in a United Soccer League match.
T2 is coming off a 3-1 win over Vancouver Whitecaps 2 in which Camas High School graduate Brent Richards had two assists to earn a spot on the USL team of the week.
Timbers 2 (9-12-2, 29 points) enter the weekend in eighth place in the Western Conference. The team has five games remaining, two more at home after Saturday.
Tulsa (10-9-6) is in fifth place. Forward Sammy Ochoa (eight goals) leads a Tulsa attack that shares the league lead with 46 goals.
Timbers 2 announced on Friday that the team and midfielder Steven Evans have agreed to part ways. A former Homegrown Player signing for the MLS Timbers, the Portland native played for the University of Portland in college and for the Timbers under-23 team.
