The Portland Thorns, benefiting from big crowds and shared infrastructure with the MLS Portland Timb. number of back-to-back games and the number of games played during the two weeks used in the paper’s model. But winning two dramatic playoff games is not necessarily a guarantee that things will go swimmingly for the rebranded North Carolina Courage this year. He will look to bounce back from an injury plagued final season with Seattle when he carried just 111 times for 417 yards and three touchdowns.