Portland Thorns re-sign 4 players, add goalkeeper
Updated Feb 11, 2021;
Posted Feb 11, 2021
Bella Bixby returns for her fourth season with the Thorns and is coming off an ACL injury she suffered last summer. (Rob Gray / ISI Photos)
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The Portland Thorns have re-signed four players and added a third goalkeeper to the roster, the team announced Thursday.
Portland re-signed goalkeeper Bella Bixby, forward Tyler Lussi, defender Madison Pogarch and midfielder Angela Salem. The Thorns also signed goalkeeper Shelby Hogan. All five contracts are one-year deals, the Thorns said.
Lussi, 26, enters her fifth season with the Thorns. The 21st pick in the 2017 NWSL draft, Lussi has started 13 matches, scored four goals and added four assists in 42 appearances. She played in all 10 matches last season, making eight starts.
Fleshed-out roster means exciting possibilities for Thorns FC
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Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Yesterday was a big day and not because of what any groundhog had to say about the current state of winter. No, it was a big day because it was the first time that Portland Thorns FC hit the field for preseason training. The excitement surrounding the team seems to be high as ever and for good reason.
The Thorns fleshed out their roster pretty well this offseason. They added Finnish defender Natalia Kuikka, re-signed players like Simone Charley and Emily Menges, and in the biggest move of all added Crystal Dunn to the roster in a blockbuster trade involving the North Carolina Courage and OL Reign. After finishing 2020 on a high note with their Fall Series victory, Portland is going into the 2021 season with the talent to do some damage.
“It was very hard to get my confidence up at the beginning [of the 2020 season],”the Red Stars’ Bianca St. Georges said. “Not only was I struggling with my individual performances, but the people around me were world-class players. It was a big pressure for me to show up and prove I was worth being part of the team.”
Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Bianca St. Georges is light-years away from the player she was when she got drafted by the Red Stars with the 20th overall pick in 2019. Obviously, two years have passed since the Quebec defender was drafted out of West Virginia, but more significantly are the changes she has made mentally and physically that earned her an invitation to Canada’s upcoming national-team training camp ahead of the 2021 SheBelieves Cup.