Portland Thorns midfielder Tobin Heath will miss Saturday's game against the North Carolina Courage as she continues to recover from a back injury.

Thorns coach Mark Parsons said that Heath would not travel with the team to North Carolina this week, but would be back in training next week and the club is hopeful that she will be able to play some minutes against the Chicago Red Stars on April 29.

"She won't travel to North Carolina," Parsons said. "She'll be in training next week. We hope to be able to get her some minutes against Chicago."

Along with Heath, Thorns defender Katherine Reynolds (groin injury) and forward Dagny Brynjarsdottir (back injury) have also been working their way back to full health and won't be available for Saturday's game.

Parsons said Brynjarsdottir could have played minutes this weekend if the Thorns were at home, but they didn't want to risk aggravating her back by having her travel across the country.

Brynjarsdottir will hopefully be back in training next week and ready for the game against Chicago, Parsons said.

Parsons said Reynolds might not return to training for a "couple more weeks" and he did not have an exact timeline for when she would be available to earn game minutes.

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg