North Carolina did almost everything with the ball on Friday night in Portland. The Courage kept it 62.7 percent of the match and completed 493 of 575 passes, per ESPN's match stats. Portland needed one fast break. Marie Müller finished it from outside the box into the top right corner in the 60th minute, and the Portland Thorns beat the North Carolina Courage 1-0 at Providence Park.

The crowd of 20,105 saw Portland move to 47 points from 29 games (13 wins, 8 draws, 8 losses). North Carolina stayed on 42 points with a 13-3-13 mark.

Portland Defended Its Box With 37 Clearances

The quiet number was 37: that is how many clearances the Thorns made, more than double North Carolina's 15. The Courage took 11 shots and put just two on target, and Mackenzie Arnold saved both for the clean sheet. Portland, with far less of the ball, put 7 of its 13 shots on goal and forced five saves from Kailen Sheridan. North Carolina also won eight corners to Portland's five and got nothing from any of them.

Müller had only two shots all night. Both were on target, and the second one counted. She also picked up a yellow card in the 27th minute, one of three bookings in the match.

One Regular-Season Game Left

Both teams play their final regular-season match on Sunday, Nov. 1: Portland visits the Houston Dash, and North Carolina hosts Denver Summit FC. Match numbers come from the ESPN match page. More women's soccer on our NWSL page.