ORLANDO, Florida - The Portland Thorns set their sights on the 2017 NWSL Championship trophy last October as they stood on the field at Providence Park after a crushing loss in the semifinals of the NWSL playoffs.

A year and two weeks after that defeat, the Thorns proudly hoisted that NWSL Championship trophy as gold and silver confetti shot into the air at Orlando City Stadium.

The Thorns won their second NWSL Championship title Saturday night, beating the North Carolina Courage 1-0 in the NWSL Championship in front of an announced attendance of 8,124 fans. It was Portland's first championship since beating the Western New York Flash to win the league's inaugural title in 2013.

"It means everything," said Thorns midfielder Lindsey Horan, who was named the NWSL Championship MVP. "I didn't get over that loss for a very long time. We've worked so hard this whole season to get this win."

Portland's mantra this postseason was "unfinished business" as a reminder of the early exit from last year's playoffs. And despite an ugly and physical championship match Saturday, Portland found a way to get the job done against the team that eliminated them last season.

After a dream start at home against the Orlando Pride in the semifinals last week, the Thorns looked nervous in a sloppy and surprisingly physical first half Saturday.

The hard challenges began when Thorns midfielder Tobin Heath, who was starting just her second game of the year after missing 22 matches with a back injury, took down Taylor Smith in the second minute. Smith was forced to leave the game with an arm injury. The Courage lost another starter to injury in the 39th minute when forward Kristen Hamilton was forced to exit the match.

"They were physical," Courage coach Paul Riley said. "I think they had more tackles than passes in the first half. So, they got into us. It looked like that was their game plan and, unfortunately, it did knock us out of our rhythm."

Referee Danielle Chesky struggled to keep control of the game as it grew more and more physical. She finally showed the first yellow card of the match to Heath in the 41st minute for persistent infringement. But Chesky's lack of control led to frustration from the Courage late in the half and North Carolina committed a slew of bad fouls on Portland in the final minutes before halftime.

The tough challenges continued in the second half as both teams fought to find the go-ahead goal.

"It was a physical, intense battle," Thorns coach Mark Parsons said. "Tight game. Maybe the most beautiful ugly game I've ever been a part of it."

The hard-fought game pitted the NWSL's top two defenses against each other and the match seemed destined from the get-go to be decided by one goal. It was Portland that found the back of the net.

Horan broke the deadlock for the Thorns in the 50th minute when she finished a free kick from Emily Sonnett. Sonnett's long free kick glanced off Courage defender Abby Dahlkemper's head before landing at Horan's feet. Horan put the ball in the net to give Portland the critical 1-0 lead.

The Courage outshot the Thorns 16-4 in the game, but struggled to break down Portland's stingy backline and tremendous center back pairing of Sonnett and Emily Menges. With the Courage pushing for an equalizer in the 82nd minute, Menges made a tremendous recovery to block a shot from Jessica McDonald and keep Portland on top.

"It's special," Menges said. "We've gotten to a point where we really connect as a backline... We rely on each other. We keep each other accountable. We can predict what each other are going to do. It's amazing."

Early in the year, it was unclear whether Portland would be able to accomplish their goal of raising a trophy this season. The club struggled with injuries early on and the team didn't start to click until Parsons made a formation change midseason.

But the Thorns kept grinding and came together to play their best soccer in the final weeks of the year, closing out the season with wins in 11 of their final 13 matches to secure the championship trophy Saturday night.

"In five years, we've won two championships and won the league once," Thorns captain Christine Sinclair said. "We're putting it together on the field and hopefully we can just continue to grow."

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg