Rose City Red Card

August 16, 2026: Hanks for Trying, Orlando

• Rose City Red Card

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0:00 | 34:27

Portland 2-1 Orlando. Caiya Hanks came off the season-ending injury list on Friday, came on in the 88th minute, and won it in the 96th — her first match back after fourteen months out with a torn ACL.

We were in the building on media credentials for the first time. We got in late, we missed the ceremony, we sat in the press box, and Alan asked a question at the post-match press conference. Plus the two knees, a table check, Meghan Klingenberg's whole career, and a vote we need from you.

Adults only. Bring a drink.

🌳 VOTE FOR BELLA BIXBY

Bixby is the Thorns' nominee for the 2026 Lauren Holiday Impact Award. The overall winner's charity receives $50,000 from Nationwide. The NWSL Fan Impact Challenge is how fans back her nomination — one vote per device per day, through August 29 — and the fan-vote winner's charity gets an additional $10,000. Winner announced September 2.

Her charity is Friends of Trees, Portland-based urban forestry.

👉 Vote here: https://g1j9uuaobs1.typeform.com/to/SWulrU2a

CHAPTERS

00:00 Cold open — Hanks wins it in the 96th
02:44 Getting in — credentials, the press box, and the people who fixed it
06:58 The question — our first credentialed press conference
08:15 What are we drinking
09:07 The Two Knees — Moultrie out, Hanks back
15:20 The match — a shaky half, then Providence Park
22:15 Table check — fourth on 34, ten to play
26:05 Bella Bixby — the vote we're asking you for
27:44 Get Klingy With It — Meghan Klingenberg, top to bottom
31:54 Next week — Tobin Heath night

WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT

• Caiya Hanks won it in the 96th minute of her first match back. She tore her ACL at Providence Park on June 15, 2025, was cleared off the season-ending injury list on Friday, came on in the 88th, and hit the winner from outside the box into the bottom corner. Assisted by M.A. Vignola.

• The goals: Deyna Castellanos 58' (assisted by Pietra Tordin), Jacqueline Ovalle 63' for Orlando, Hanks 90+6'. Orlando's equaliser came off Mackenzie Arnold's own punched save and ricocheted in off Ovalle's knees. It is credited to Ovalle, with no own-goal notation.

• Tordin's assist was her ninth of the season — one off the NWSL single-season record of 10, co-held by Tobin Heath (Portland, 2016) and Croix Bethune (Kansas City, 2024). She can tie it next Saturday, on Tobin Heath's night.

• Perry and Obaze kept Barbra Banda quiet, which almost nobody manages. Nina Nijstad continues to impress in midfield.

• Nijstad's substitution was concussion protocol, not a diagnosed concussion, after a collision with Jessie Fleming. Sarah Lowdon called it precautionary and declined a medical answer.

• Olivia Moultrie is out for the season with a torn ACL in her right knee, announced August 11. She's 20, and it costs her the Concacaf W Championship as well as the rest of the year.

• Robert Vilahamn was in the building, near the media room — but not on the touchline, and the club still hasn't said why. Sarah Lowdon was acting head coach.

• Attendance: 19,106.

• The run-in: 10 matches left, six at Providence Park, where Portland are unbeaten in 2026.

• We were outside for the Klingenberg ceremony. Credential pickup ran long and we didn't get in until after kickoff. We're not going to describe something we didn't see — go watch the club's footage. We honoured her our own way in Get Klingy With It.

NEXT WEEK

Tobin Heath is honoured at Providence Park on Saturday, August 22 vs Denver Summit, signing a one-day contract to retire officially as a Portland Thorn. Lindsey Heaps returns as captain of the Summit, and Pietra Tordin can tie Heath's single-season assist record on Heath's own night.

THANK YOU

Alberto and Bryce, who got us in.

LINKS

Club recap: https://www.thorns.com/news
Match highlights: https://www.thorns.com/video/video-u16zoavmfwm
Post-match press conference: https://www.thorns.com/video/video-cw87eybowlu

Alan:

Welcome to Rose City Red Card for August 16th, 2026. We have just come off an incredible game. I am Alan and with me is Marissa.

Marissa:

Hello, hello out there. Rose City Red Card listeners. Yeah, like Alan said, it was, it was a game, man. It was emotional. It was amazing. It was amazing. Providence Park gives.

Alan:

It does. It gives. We are still undefeited. defeated, one, two to one, an incredible game-winning moment. Tell me what happened there at the end of the game.

Marissa:

Yeah, so we had eight minutes left to stoppage time. It was still tied up one-to-one, eight minutes left the stoppage time. Six minutes in the stoppage time, Caiya Hanks ripped one into the far post. It was, like, you can't write a script better than that, man.

Alan:

She was on the field for eight. minutes. Her first time in 14 months. And eight minutes in, she, she scores the game-winning

Marissa:

goal. And it was, it was a beautiful one. It's been a long time since I've heard Providence Park that loud. You could, I mean, security guards were high-fiving. Like, it was, everybody could feel it. It, you know, it meant it was more than soccer. It was, it was, it was really special. It was really special. And, yeah, Hi, Hanks.

Alan:

It was great to see her back. Like I said, 14 months off. She tore her ACL at Providence Park. 14 months ago, she was on the season-ending injury list until the day before, or the game. Until Friday, they pulled her off. And she came in and just, it was an incredible moment.

Marissa:

Yeah.

Alan:

And seeing those players celebrating down there, it was, it was incredible.

Marissa:

It was like, I mean, we were, we were emotional up in the press box, and you're not supposed to show emotion of air. You got to be professional, got to be neutral, but we were all, it was, it was special. I mean, we won, but Caiya getting the game-winning goal. I mean, gosh, that was incredible, man. That was incredible to watch. That was incredible to be a part of. It was just to feel it in there. It was special.

Alan:

It really was. And speaking of that, the entire experience was quite an event for us.

Marissa:

Yeah.

Alan:

We went through a lot. We met a lot of people, and we had had a great day.

Marissa:

We got passed around the stadium a little bit. But everybody was nice, a little confused, but it was.

Alan:

Yeah. Turns out that because they don't own. the stadium. And so the stadium people work with them. There's a little bit of miscommunication going on at the entry about press credentials, which we were lucky enough that they gave us, and we were able to get in as press, which was so much fun. After we figured out the confusion and met lots of people who worked there, people on their first day, people who had been there for years, got to see different parts of the stadium that we normally don't get to see. And eventually everything got worked out that they were fantastic and they were super helpful. Everybody was great. Yeah. And we got on up to the press box where you'd been before. This was my first time up there.

Marissa:

And the food, food was great. Food was great. Got a lemonade, a Coke. You was phenomenal. Yeah, it was a beautiful day. Providence. You know, it was a little bit rocky, but, you know, it was, it was great.

Alan:

It was wonderful weather. And yeah, thanks to Alberto and Bryce.

Marissa:

Yeah, shout out to them for sure.

Alan:

They were fantastic. They helped us get in. They worked for the thorns and were in charge of this kind of stuff. We're incredible. And helped us figure out where to go for the press conference afterwards, which we'll get into a little bit. So, yeah, tell me, like, what's the press box like? What is it like sitting up there?

Marissa:

It's, I feel like it's, it's a really great view. You have a really great view. It is hard to stay neutral. It's hard. I mean, it's not hard. We're an adult, you know, you don't have to cheer. But, like, a game like yesterday, I feel like when we, I was, like, grabbing your shoulder after Caiya scored. And I was like, okay, let's cool down. But everybody around us could feel it. You know what I mean? Like, it was special. You're an Orlando fan. I'm sorry, but you can't help but love what just happened. Like, that was, that was beautiful for her first game back. But, yeah, press box is great. Good food, good people. Yeah, it was a really good time. Looking forward to many more press box times.

Alan:

Absolutely. What I found fun about it was that first goal, seeing it like at the angle that we saw it. And then I saw the footage of it later on, the replays. And it was like the exact same angle. And I realized it's because we're in the room right next to where those cameras are.

Marissa:

Yeah, the camera is literally like 15 feet to the left of us. That's recording it.

Alan:

Yeah. And so it was like, you know, that, that fantastic angle that was caught on the camera for that was the angle. Yeah. And it was, it was so much fun.

Marissa:

And then we ran into Vilahamn, you know, Mr. Red Card for the game. But he was up there.

Alan:

He wasn't down on the field.

Marissa:

Yeah, wasn't down on the field. But he was up there. And then we ran into Bella Bixby. Tall. Tall. Tall. Tall. Tall girl. But she looked, you know, it was just really cool to kind of see, you know, kind of behind the scenes, everything. And yeah, it was great. It was a great experience. Definitely looking forward to the next time.

Alan:

Yeah. Only downside was we ended up missing the ceremony for Klingenberg. Yeah. But I think that was partially our fault. We were running a little bit on the later side. And, you know, we're learning. Yeah, we're new to this.

Marissa:

We're getting there. But yeah, but for Klingenberg, stay tuned to the end of the episode for our portion called Get Klingy with it when we were talking about all of her accolades and definitely dive deep in the Kling as she deserves.

Alan:

Absolutely. That does bring us to the press conference, though. We got our first question asked by us from our show, asked on to the press conference.

Marissa:

Yeah, Alan.

Alan:

Yeah, if you watch the press conference video, you get me asking. I asked Lowdon what she said to Hanks before she came on the field. I thought that was kind of an interesting thing. And she basically said, yeah, it wasn't really much. I told her to get out there. And I think it was, I asked her what she would have said to herself 12 months ago. And she just kept saying, I don't know. Which, you know what? Fair enough. Yeah. Getting out for the first time, after 14 months, it was incredible. And like, the, what I loved was, actually, when the play, we got to see the players in the press conference and actually got to see them talking and walked in with their bushel of roses, you know,

Marissa:

like the two scores of the game. It was really cool.

Alan:

Yeah, it was. So fun. Well, for our next second minute, I think we need to start off with, what are you drinking today?

Marissa:

Well, you know, I'm mixing it up and I'm drinking well vodka, Alan.

Alan:

Really?

Marissa:

Surprise, surprise.

Alan:

Who could have ever predicted that?

Marissa:

Crazy world.

Alan:

But you're also.

Marissa:

Oh, I'm also drinking a Coors Light.

Alan:

Even more classy.

Marissa:

Gosh, you know, I'm just classing this joint up.

Alan:

Well, and I am, uh, ooh, I'm making a mistake. They are out. of my normal beer. We are back at our usual hangout. Welcome back, Marissa. Welcome home. But we're at our usual recording spot, and they are out of the Lagunitas they normally get. And I fell back to the space dust. And we remember what happened last time.

Marissa:

We won't talk about it. We'll move past it.

Alan:

Let's move past it. Cheers. Cheers. So that brings us to some of our players and what is going on. A segment we're calling the two knees. uh, Olivia Moultrie out for the season, torn ACL. But at the same time, Caiya Hanks coming back in from effectively the same injury. They're very similar injury. Tell me about this.

Marissa:

Yeah. I mean, if you look back for the last couple of weeks, um, we've got Weaver back. We have Hanks back, but we have Moultrie out. Um, it's been, it's been, it's been a lot. It's been a roller coaster. Um, obviously we ever came back. And then, uh, Moultrie was a moultrie. like it was announced on August 11th that she had torn her ACL and her right knee. She had been out the game before. Just she had, like, they said they had picked up, she had picked up an injury in practice. So she had missed the game before. And then it was announced that she had actually torn her ACL.

Alan:

And that's a, this is rough time.

Marissa:

It's a really rough time. Like we've talked about on previous episodes, everyone's thinking about next summer. The World Cup is next summer. Everybody is counting on their fingers. How many months? months, how many days. And we don't know. We don't know what kind of magic she has in her body. We also aren't sure what kind of surgery, what kind of tear. We don't know. And so, yeah, we think that she'll probably be out for the cup. But like I said, this is not, I am not a doctor. Alan,

Alan:

might be a doctor. Alan, it might be a doctor. Alan, are you doctor? I think we've covered this once before. No, no, no, I'm not in the medical field. We are not in the medical. I am in the medical marijuana field. I am in the

Marissa:

medical field. But I am not in the medical field. My brother's a doctor, but not a medical doctor. So, you know, but, um, but yeah, so it's just been kind of a roller coaster for us Thorns' fans. I mean, the whole league, like the country, like, the football world was, you know, is really, really upset about this live stuff. I mean, she's 20. She's, she was going to be a lock. I mean, I think, on the USA squad next summer. Um, she was doing. Um, she was doing.

Alan:

such great things for us. I was about to say it was heartbreaking, but then I remembered her exact quote where she said, uh, heartbroken doesn't even begin to sum up all of the feelings.

Marissa:

Yeah. Which, you know, I cannot even imagine. I mean, she's been a professional since she was 14, you know, like this is, she's, yeah, like, it was, it was really sad. It's really disappointing, but the comeback is going to be better. Um, she's going to go through it. That was also kind of something rough to see yesterday too was, um, Moultrie after Caiya Hanks scored that game winning goal. Moultrie, after the game, Moultrie went up to her and they, I'm getting emotional. It's so funny. But, um, Moultrie came up and they like kind of put their heads together and you got to think like as one journey is beginning again, you know, like, like, ACL injury for Caiya's just ending and now it's just beginning for live. It's really, it's, you know, it's really hard. But, you know, this time next year, we're going to be making a fucking episode about live coming back better than ever. Exactly. You know, and that's, and that's what it's about. She's a fighter. She's only 20. She's not 31. She's not older. Like, she's, we have a lot. We have a lot looking. There's a lot to the future. This is. And we're seeing, we're seeing her next year with Caiya right now.

Alan:

Yeah. We're seeing, you know, similar kinds of energy. She was, she was, she's 21. And she was a, already, uh, an established player. Like, she was, I'm pretty new to the thorns. So I hadn't heard of her until yesterday. And was blown away by her absolutely immediately. She immediately made an effect on the field. You know, that was, it was big. It really was. And it was, it was so great to see eight minutes in. Yeah.

Marissa:

Yeah. And, you know, it's kind of a weird, funky thing, but she wasn't going to come in that game. The only reason she got in the game, I'm pretty sure is because Nijstad got that concussion, got sent off. And so, because you can only, they only allow a certain amount of substitutions. But we got that last sub because of concussion. That makes a lot of Yeah, yeah. So that's why even Caiya was even going to come in, because I don't even think Caiya was going to go in. Because, like, usually how these things go, like she was taking off S-E-I. And then, no, yeah, it was concussion protocol. Sorry, Brooke. Yeah. Don't yell at us.

Alan:

So to get into that specifically, it sounds like she does not have a concussion. No. It was concussion protocol. But from what we heard, it was her mouth.

Marissa:

Yeah, her mouth.

Alan:

They said at the press conference that all her teeth are still there and that they were happy to see that. They also said that it was not funny at the time, but it was funny now. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, that's a promising thing to hear.

Marissa:

Also, shout out to our league. for taking concussions very seriously. A concussion is a brain injury. If she wasn't concussion, we know that now, but we take it seriously. It's, if you get a knock on the head, stop, play immediate medical services out there. We take it very seriously. So shout out to our league for taking that shit seriously because it's really important that we do.

Alan:

Absolutely.

Marissa:

Like we said, she's not concussion. She doesn't have a concussion, but it was concussion protocol. So she was out of the game.

Alan:

Well, and as she was walking off the field, I saw it. her with an ice pack to her mouth.

Marissa:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Alan:

And so I made a comment to you about, you know, it looks like it might be more of a mouth injury or something. Exactly. Exactly. You know, those can get quite bloody. Yeah. So from what we've heard, it sounds like it's something that's pretty recoverable. Yeah. It just took her out for there. And it was incredible. We got Caiya in and we won this game.

Marissa:

We had three points.

Alan:

Three points, baby. Well, that brings us, into talking even more about exactly what happened throughout the game.

Marissa:

Okay. All right. So moving on to the match. First of all, cheers again, Alan. We're just happy to be back. So cheers again.

Alan:

Cheers.

Marissa:

Okay. So let's get into the match. As you all know, we ended up winning two to one versus Orlando. That pushes us to fourth in the league. Orlando is standing at 11th in the league. The first half, the first half wasn't our best showing. To say the least. We didn't have a lot of shots on goal, didn't have any corners. Orlando, basically, we were playing like we weren't at Providence Park. It was a shaky first half. And then I feel like the second half, you know, your coaches make adjustments. You guys as team make adjustments. And we definitely started playing some Portland home. We started playing like we're at fucking Providence Park.

Alan:

We did.

Marissa:

Yeah.

Alan:

Hearing the Riveters. play. Oh, yeah. It feels like home.

Marissa:

You know, it was really great.

Alan:

What was the number?

Marissa:

19,106. All right. So let's go through the goals. Castellanos scored at the 58th minute with a really beautiful pastor Tordin. They were reading each other really well on that left side. The 63rd goal was an Ovalle goal for Orlando. It seemed like it was just a. Should have been maybe caught by our goalie. But, you know, Kenzie, we love you, girl. This is a positive episode. We're going full positive.

Alan:

Yeah, it was kind of a strange little interaction there. But, you know, it was what it was. Yeah. I do want to point out real quick, though, that that was Tordin's ninth assist for the season. She is tied up with the record.

Marissa:

With Croix.

Alan:

With Croix. Batoon from Kansas City. That, you know, next week. She could break that record.

Marissa:

Not even just break the record, but, or, break the, break Tobin Heath's assist record. Like, that's what could happen next week.

Alan:

Oh, so I misspoke. So she's one off of the record.

Marissa:

Yeah, she's one from the record. But she has a chance to tie Tobin Heath's all-time assist record for the season.

Alan:

Oh, okay. That's what I was getting confused. That's fucking huge. There are two different, yeah. There's like. There's actually 20 different things, you guys. There's always so many, but it's still, it's exciting and it's, you know, something to look forward to next week and something, you know, again, it was great this week. And then, yeah, get, let's get back to those goals that.

Marissa:

Yeah, and then so. And then obviously, so we had, at the 96th minute, we had a, fuck, M.A. Vignola, man, she really had a really great game. She pulled, she dragged the ball up the left side, made a really good pass to, Our girl, Caiya Hanks, Caiya dribbled a little bit more. Nice touch to her right and just flung it in. That was some bend it like Beckham shit. Like it curved perfectly around the goalie and just hit in the corner pocket of the net. And the crowd, like we were saying, the crowd went wild, security guards were high-fiving. It was amazing.

Alan:

The energy in the stadium was incredible.

Marissa:

All right. So we got the goals out of the way. Let's kind of talk about the match. One of our biggest things also Lowdon had brought up in the press conference was shutting Banda down. Banda is. the current golden boot in the leader. And she's, we all know what Barbra Banda can do. And we shut her, we shut her down. I mean, huge, huge, huge shout out to Perry and Obaze. Perry's locked her up. Also, I mean, our players did well, but coaching staff, they did really well at being able to, you know, kind of maybe double team her a little bit. And she was quiet, and keeping Banda quiet is not easy to do. Not a lot of teams can do it. But it was great. Castiano did really, really well. It seemed like a flip was switched. She had, I don't know if this is her turning a corner, but she had a great game. She kept possession of the ball. She was winning back balls. She was being aggressive, and we also got a beautiful first goal from her. That was another shift right over the keeper. The keeper didn't even know what to do. It was truly amazing. Yeah, defense looked really good. We looked a lot better than we have in the past, in the past couple games. We're both completely still just continue to be impressed with Nijstad, Nina Nijstad, the Dutch international that we picked up a couple weeks ago. She's still finding herself in the league. You know, it's a different league than what she's used to. She's only played in the Netherlands. Stolen in the league, she, yeah, like, I don't know, man. She's great. She's finding herself in good positions. She's not scared to take people on one-on-one. Yeah, she was great. Sofa and Flem had off nights. You know what? Shit happens. Even me, this perfect podcaster, I have off nights.

Alan:

Crazy, right?

Marissa:

Well, come on. It happens to the best of us. But Soph and Flem had off night. Also, Orlando, God damn, they did really, really well at a boss defending Sophia. They were, they kept her quiet and that's not easy to do. Yeah, that was. Yeah, that was pretty crazy. I mean, Soph also had some good shots, but she, I don't know, she was off. They were shutting her, they kind of quieted her down. It's just kind of a mixable, you know.

Alan:

It showed us the depth of our team in some ways that we haven't been seeing the last couple of weeks. Yeah, I mean, we've seen a lot of the same players kind of taking the highlights. And this week, you know, the press conference was a player I had never heard of, and one who I'd heard of, but was not super familiar with.

Marissa:

Yeah, exactly.

Alan:

And they both played incredibly well. And you could feel the energy from them.

Marissa:

And it just shows we don't need, you know, like, I mean, we don't necessarily, we can score goals without Soph and Tordin and Flynn scoring goals, you know.

Alan:

We have an incredible team all the way through it.

Marissa:

Yeah. And I feel like it's really, I don't know, I feel like we're, I feel like that loss to Utah fine one, I feel like really woke us up. I feel like we all maybe kind of looked at each other in the locker room and we're like,

Alan:

We need a fucking woman up.

Marissa:

Pull our big girl pants up. Put the cleats on. Put the guards on. Let's get this shit going.

Alan:

Make this happen.

Marissa:

And we have looked better since that game.

Alan:

Well, that does bring us then to the table and where we are at.

Marissa:

All right. Beobu, pew, pew. Sorry. Yes. There we go. There we go. All right. So the Portland thorns are solidly in fourth place on the table. We are only. only behind Gotham, Utah, and Washington. Gotham has 43 points. Utah is at 36 points. Washington is also at 36 points. We're at 34 points. San Diego Wave, fifth place, at 33 points. North Carolina, Kansas City are tied, or they're at 6th and 7th with 30 points. And Seattle Reign is at 27 points at the 8th. I'm just going to tell, yeah, we're just going to go top eight. Yeah, it's kind of a shame. I will say.

Alan:

So who are we worried about?

Marissa:

We're worried about the people above us and the people below us.

Alan:

How insightful.

Marissa:

I know. Thank you, thank you. Water is wet also. We have an interesting last couple of games. Like I said, we have 10 matches left of the season. Six of those are at home, which are really exciting. But we also are playing Gotham, Washington. We still have some. Rougher games to go, but we also do have a chunk of those games that are playing against like the lower table teams, you know, Boston, Chicago, Bay, racing, Houston. Like, we still have some, you know.

Alan:

We still got some games. Yeah.

Marissa:

So, um, at this point, every, every game counts. We need points. Uh, we want points. Um, we are, we will be making the playoffs. Sorry to the haters. We will be making the playoffs. Um, it just depends where we are position. in the playoffs, you know, the higher we are, the, you know, we play a lower place team. Um, yeah, we just need, points are important. We need to go into every game. We need to definitely take advantage of being at home. Like I said, out of the 10 games, six of them, we have home Providence Park advantage. And we just need to make these count. Like, it's getting to the bottom, not bottom, but kind of the tail end of the season. I think the last game of the season is November 1st. Yeah, so we kind of need to, we need to, I just wanted to say, tuck our tishes in, but. Yeah, but we need to, every point counts, you know, and the last two, we've been three to four, two to one. That's a win, baby. We got three points, so, it's a big deal.

Alan:

So what about North Carolina? They are in sixth. They are, we're in fourth now. We came in fifth. We're in fourth now. North Carolina is a couple below us, but are they threat?

Marissa:

Yeah. I mean, God damn, this is NWSL. Every fucking team is a threat, you know? Like, even the bottom of the table, like, anything can kind of happen, which is kind of crazy. North Carolina just beat Washington Spirit. I think the game was, I think the score was four to three. They beat Washington Spirit. And that Washington Spirit is top of the table. You know, they're ahead of us. And so you kind of just never know what you're going to get. Even today, North Carolina plays Houston Dash today at 4. We're recording on Sunday. And even if North Carolina wins today, they only get moved up to fifth. So at this point of the weekend, we are solidly going into the next week at fourth place. So kind of nothing doesn't change that, but we should be, we should be, I mean, it's towards the end. Everybody knows it's towards the end. Boston's looking, they're looking better. Louisville's kind of picking up their pace, you know? Like, everybody knows that it's playoff time, you know, like, or not playoff time yet. But everyone's kind of looking. looking at the table and realizing, okay, do her fucking die. Like, get these fucking points or go home. So everyone's picking up the pace.

Alan:

Everybody, it's getting serious now.

Marissa:

It's spicy.

Alan:

So we mentioned earlier on, we ran into, or we saw from a distance, Bella Bixby walking around. But the exciting bit is she is the Thorns' nominee this year for the 2026 Lauren Holiday Impact Award. And so the winner, the winner. of that gets a $50,000 donation to a charity of their choice. And the way that you guys can actually help out with this is one of the votes from it comes from the NWSL Fan Impact Challenge. And you can vote one vote per device per day from now until August 29th. And the winner of the Fan Impact Challenge gets an additional $10,000, even if they don't win the overall award. So go vote for Bixby. She deserves it. Like, she's the Thorns' nominee this year. So we'll put the link in the show notes. I would read it out, but it's impossible to read. So it'll be in the show.

Marissa:

We can't read.

Alan:

I can't read.

Marissa:

Sorry, what I will say, I do follow Bella on her socials. And as she is always in Portland, always doing something, I know her charity is the Friends of Trees. It's like the Portland-based urban forestry service thing. And she's always out planting trees, doing stuff in the community. So I will say I have seen that. That's pretty cool.

Alan:

That's so cool. So, yeah, go vote for her, help them get some money for that great charity.

Marissa:

Yeah.

Alan:

All right. As we teased earlier, it is now time to get Klingy with it.

Marissa:

In cleaning with it. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. All right, Meghan Klingenberg, get Klingy with it. Let's go. She is a U.S. Women's National Team player from 2011 to 2018. She has 75 caps, three goals. Three goals for a fullback is fucking amazing. She's a 2015 World Cup winner played every single minute of all seven matches, which is also fucking crazy. She was named FIFA. She was named to the FIFA, FIFA Pro World 11, 2015, which means out of, she was picked one of the 11th players out of the entire tournament, every single country to be the best served.

Alan:

Wow.

Marissa:

Literally absurd, Sert, Arnold, honor, fucking amazing. She was also featured in FIFA 16, the video game, the first time FIFA, that game has ever included the women, the women's teams. She was represented, or she was, Obama presented her at the White House, Obama, you know. Thanks, Obama. The ticker tape parade down the canyon of heroes. of the first women's team to ever have that. She played professionally in Sweden for three years from 2012 to 2014. She came to the NWSL for two years. She came to the NWSL, then she came to the NWSL, played two years for the Houston Dash between 2014-2015 and nine season with our thorns from 2016 to 2024. She's known for her fiery pre-game speeches. We don't have to be heroes. We just have to be brave. I get choked up every time I hear that. She left the club in December, 24, but she announced her retirement on her own in June 18, 2025. It was a big deal. We were all extremely disappointed. She was a live. She was a huge heartbeat of the team, but like I said, age is a fickle, fickle bitch. She had, we've done two championships with the Thorns, 2017 and 2022, won the Shield in 2016. in 2022. She's also a 2014 Concacaf winner, 2016. She believes Cup winner. Taekwondo Black Belt, third degree. She was also in Cats, the musical in high school, and her high school won, like, best musical in the Pittsburgh area.

Alan:

Well, why didn't you lead with that? I know, I know, and it's something that she constantly brings up.

Marissa:

Like, she was just interviewed recently about Cats, and she was so stoked about it, and she's, that's fucking awesome. Yeah, she also hosts the U.S. soccer podcast, which is a really good podcast. We should give it a listen.

Alan:

I'm going to give that a listen. It apparently started just over a year ago, about a year before we started.

Marissa:

Yeah, how long ago.

Alan:

We'll be there soon. We'll be there soon. Yeah, we'll hit a year.

Marissa:

And also, like, one of the biggest things is she helped the USA Women's National Players Association and crucial negotiations regarding images and likeness monetization. Meaning, if I'm got, you know, like, my face, my name, my number, I should make a little bit of that fucking profit. You know what I mean?

Alan:

Yeah.

Marissa:

She was huge and instrumental at our girls getting paid for that, especially when the team was blowing up. God damn, we have fucking four World Cups, you know, like.

Alan:

Absolutely.

Marissa:

So, yeah.

Alan:

We've got the history.

Marissa:

Can you guys clap for Klingenberg?

Alan:

Everyone's clapping.

Marissa:

Yeah, that was our segment. Get Klingy with it.

Alan:

Get Klingy with it. We unfortunately missed the ceremony with her before due to our, our adventure. but we still wanted to make sure that we honored her tonight.

Marissa:

She was huge for USA soccer. She was huge for the thorns. I'm glad that she got to get her flowers. That was awesome. Once a thorn.

Alan:

Always the thorn.

Marissa:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Alan:

So that brings us to next week coming up. Tobin Heath is going to be honored at Providence Park next Saturday in a game versus the Denver Summit. It sounds like you're going to try to be there?

Marissa:

Yeah, I'm absolutely going to be there. I'm going to be there two hours. early. I will definitely be there. I will not miss Tobin Heath's honor. She's, we're going to make sure it happens this time. Yeah, yeah, I'm definitely going to be there. Tobin Heath is your favorite soccer player's favorite soccer player. She's played around the world. I'm, I'm, I'm so excited

Alan:

to be there. It's going to be huge. She gets to retire officially as a thorn. She's signing a one-day contract, so she gets to officially retire as a thorn. I love that. If we weren't doing so good

Marissa:

these last few games, I've been like, put her on the fucking field. Put it on the field.

Alan:

Absolutely. It's going to be a fantastic game. I unfortunately will not be there. I will be watching it from home, but I am so excited to hear all of your experience, and I'm excited to see the game live at least. So this is going to be a lot of fun.

Marissa:

I'm really looking forward to it. Like I said, you know, like I just said earlier, we got 10 games left in the season. Six of them at home. This is one of the six that are at home. We're playing Denver Summit. We lost to them two to one a little while back ago, and we need to get our licks back. We've been doing better. We got Providence Park on our backs.

Alan:

We do. We're at home again.

Marissa:

Yeah. Also a little snippet. I'm not sure if Lindsey Horan is going to be playing this game. She's been out the last two times. She's a Denver Summit captain.

Alan:

She came over from Leon.

Marissa:

She's been out with a little knee injury for the last two games. Unsure if she's going to be playing in. Portland, but she played in Portland for years before she went to France. And so it's going to be a huge to have her back at Providence Park. She still has PDX in her bio, so suck at Denver. But yeah, so I mean, all around, it's just, we're like, we're living on a high, man. We were, we were talking about before we were, like, we're talking about this episode. Like, let's keep it positive. This was great. We got three points. There's a lot to look forward to. Let's fucking go.

Alan:

Let's fucking go.

Marissa:

Yeah. So, like I always say, no injuries, all smiles. Fuck Seattle. Go Thorns.

Alan:

Go Thorns.