Crystal Dunn scores fairytale winner for Portland five months after giving birth | OneFootball

Crystal Dunn struck a decisive injury-time winner against the San Diego Wave to send the Portland Thorns into the NWSL final.

Dunn, who gave birth to her first child back in May, made a remarkable return to football just four months later.

The 30-year-old featured for the USA against England recently and has made five appearances for the Thorns since coming back in September.

However, this was by far her most valuable contribution of the season, as Dunn came off the bench to break San Diego's hearts in the 93rd minute.

Taylor Kornieck had opened the scoring for Casey Stoney's San Diego, before Portland's Raquel Rodriguez equalised.

With just one minute left of added time, Dunn then unleashed a thunderbolt from the edge of the box –– sending the crowd into raptures.

Video: Crystal Dunn scores in injury-time to send Portland Thorns into NWSL final

What did Dunn say?

Speaking afterwards, Dunn described the moment as “incredible” and admitted she’d replayed the moment in her head multiple times.

"Seeing the ball drop in front of the goal frame, I was like ‘alright Crystal, here's your moment, hopefully you hit it as hard as you can and don't let anyone block the shot,’” she said.

"It's really hard for me to process that, five months ago, I gave birth. There was part of me that thought, maybe I just take the rest of this year off, maybe I hit reset and start fresh in 2023. But for me, I always wanted to end this year the best way that I could and that was working extremely hard to get back on to the pitch."

How did fans react to Dunn’s winner?

Understandably, Thorns fans loved Dunn’s goal and hailed her fairytale comeback.

“So happy for [Crystal] Dunn. Way to comeback and get it,” said one Twitter user.

Meanwhile, another stated: “What a hit! What a moment! What a crowd!”

A third wrote: “Only just caught up this morning on NWSL playoff results.. but Crystal Dunn scoring the 93rd-min winner to send Portland through to the final, just *FIVE MONTHS* on from giving birth to her son, is pretty special.”

Some even stressed that the goal had made them emotional, particularly mothers who had recently had children of their own.

“She’s amazing. As a new mom at home rocking my baby to sleep this has choked me up,” one emphasised.

Who is in the NWSL final?

Portland will face Kansas City in the NWSL final on Sunday, October 30th.

The Thorns are two-time champions, having been crowned NWSL winners in 2013 and 2017.

Contrastingly, this is Kansas’ first season in the NWSL after joining as an expansion team.

The team, managed by Matt Potter, beat OL Reign 2-0 to reach the final.

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