The Portland Thorns have kicked into top gear with four straight wins after coming away with a 3-2 road victory over the Chicago Red Stars in Week 16. U.S. international Emily Sonnett is making her presence felt at both ends of the field as she has scored in each of the last two games – […]

The Portland Thorns have kicked into top gear with four straight wins after coming away with a 3-2 road victory over the Chicago Red Stars in Week 16.U.S. international Emily Sonnett is making her presence felt at both ends of the field as she has scored in each of the last two games – including the game-winning goal against Chicago – in addition to helping lead a defense that ranks No. 2 in the league with just 16 goals allowed in 17 matches. The recent run for Portland has been a real team effort – with four different players (Sonnett, Tyler Lussi, Mallory Weber and Hayley Raso) scoring the game-winning goal in their four victories, while Meghan Klingenberg deserves a shout out for assisting on two of the game-winners. 1**

PORTLAND THORNS FC

9-4-4, 31 pts**

— Last week: 1 Hayley Raso, Christine Sinclair and Emily Sonnett all scored for the Thorns in a big 3-2 road win over Chicago. Portland will look to match a club record with their fifth consecutive victory when they take on FC Kansas City on Wednesday. * * * 2**

NORTH CAROLINA COURAGE

12-5-0, 36 pts**

Up: 2 Last week: 4

Samantha Mewis. Samantha. Mewis. The U.S. international scored twice to lead the Courage to a 2-1 victory over Seattle as Carolina capped Week 16 with a pair of wins. The first goal for Mewis was pure class. Go watch it. Now.

• • • 3**

ORLANDO PRIDE

7-6-5, 26 pts**

Up: 2 Last week: 5 How are things in Orlando? Well, after a pair of Week 16 wins by a combined score of 8-0 with Alex Morgan (3 goals, 2 assists) and Marta (3 goals, assist) leading the way, things are pretty great. Thanks for asking. * * * 4**

CHICAGO RED STARS

8-4-5, 29 pts**

Down: 2 Last week: 2 Christen Press and Sofia Huerta both scored to help the Red Stars battle back from a two-goal deficit, but Chicago still fell to a 3-2 home loss against Portland. The setback snapped a five-game unbeaten run for the Toyota Park crew. * * * 5**

HOUSTON DASH

6-9-2, 20 pts**

Down: 2 Last week: 3 Houston’s playoff hopes were dented a bit with a pair of losses in Week 16 capped off by a 1-0 setback against FC Kansas City. Another big week looms for the Dash, who face Boston and Portland in Week 17. * * * 6**

SEATTLE REIGN FC

6-5-6, 24 pts**

— Last week: 6 A 2-1 loss to North Carolina saw the Reign slip out of the playoff picture – albeit with a game in hand against fourth place Orlando. Rumi Utsugi scored for Seattle in the loss to preserve their NWSL record home scoring streak, which now stands at 27 games. * * * 7**

FC KANSAS CITY

4-8-5, 17 pts**

Up: 3 Last week: 10 FC Kansas City snapped a nine-game winless run as Shea Groom scored the only goal of the match to lead the Blues to a 1-0 road win over Houston. Nicole Barnhart made six saves – five in the second half – to get her first shutout since May. * * * 8**

WASHINGTON SPIRIT

4-9-4, 16 pts**

Down: 1 Last week: 7 Estelle Johnson and Cheyna Williams both scored to give the Spirit separate leads, but Washington was unable to hold on to either advantage and had to settle for a 2-2 home draw with Boston. The Spirit will enter a brutal four-game stretch that will see them face Carolina (twice), Chicago and Portland. * * * 9**

BOSTON BREAKERS

3-7-7, 16 pts**

Down: 1 Last week: 8 Adriana Leon scored two goals – both to tie the game – as the Breakers battled back twice to earn a 2-2 road draw against Washington. It was a league-leading seventh tie of the season for Boston, one shy of the NWSL single-season record. * * * 10**

SKY BLUE FC

7-9-2, 23 pts**

Down: 1 Last week: 9 Bad doesn’t get close to describing how it’s going for Sky Blue FC, who were beaten 5-0 by Orlando in Week 16. The 14 goals they’ve allowed in the last three matches are the most conceded in a three-game stretch in NWSL history.