Thorns rally past Breakers, 6-3

Christine Sinclair scored the first hat trick in Portland Thorns FC history and the fourth in National Women’s Soccer League history, as Portland tallied four unanswered goals in a 6-3 victory over the Boston Breakers in front of 14,383 fans at Providence Park on Sunday afternoon.

Allie Long, Alex Morgan and Jessica McDonald also scored for the Thorns (8-6-5, 29 points). Long scored on a first-half penalty kick after Morgan was fouled in the box by the Breakers (3-13-2, 11 points).

Katie Schoepfer, Nikki Washington and Heather O’Reilly scored for Boston, O’Reilly on a penalty kick.

The Thorns scored the final four goals after trailing 3-2 late in the first half. Sinclair scored in the 35th, 42nd and 46th minutes.

“I think it’s a confidence thing,” Sinclair said. “This is the team that we should be. We should be creating a ton of chances. I think earlier in the season we were creating a ton of chances, we just weren’t putting them away, and now they seem to be finding the back of the net.

“It just gives the team, like I said, confidence that we can give up a goal or two and we still have a chance to win the game, which is nice. Like I said, I just think we’re peaking at the right time.”