Photo by Ava Hlavacek
Student Ava Hlavacek’s take on working a crazy playoff-clinching win
As the play clock finally hit zero, a crowd of passionate and enthusiastic fans erupted at Providence Park last Friday night. For the tenth consecutive season, their beloved Portland Thorns had clinched a playoff spot in their last home game of the regular season. It was a magical, loud, and prideful moment for the large group of vested supporters seated behind the north goal. The type of energy a casual soccer fan like me could actually feel in the air. Pure joy to see their season continue into November.
But let’s go back to the beginning, when I set foot on the TriMet headed for Portland many hours before kick-off. Through mutual connections, a friend and I had been recruited to join the Portland Thorns “street team.” A group of predominantly college students whose main jobs were to help with promotions, fan experience, and everywhere else as needed. After quick introductions, a fast tour of beautiful Providence Park, and a few necessary questions, our day began. As the last game of the regular season, Friday’s crowd was both extremely large, hitting over 20,000, and eager to see some amazing soccer.
My job was to hand out that evening’s giveaway at one of the various entrances: a pin and patch set themed after the Portland Thorns themselves and a new movie set in Portland, Wildwood. Naturally, this got the attention of many people, and between the time of gates opening to 15 minutes after kick-off, there was not more than 20 seconds between handing out the next pin set.
Even though I was starting to lose steam towards the end, not a single Thorns fan gave me a reason to want to leave. I had an absolute blast. Each person I interacted with was polite, excited, and wore a wide smile across their face; never in my life had I seen so many exhilarated fans in one place. It truly felt like every person there was a lifelong fan of the Thorns.
This feeling was assured in the 60th minute, when, after a back-and-forth and tense game, Marie Müller took advantage of a deflected shot and scored a picture-perfect goal in the top right corner. Sending the team, fans, and workers alike into a frenzy of emotion and joy. Fireworks shot from the rafters, colored smoke was released from the stands, and cheers rang out across downtown PDX.
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