The Attendance at Last Night’s Portland Thorns Game Was the Highest in Team History

Soccer fans flocked to Providence Park last night to celebrate the return of four Thorns players who played on the U.S. women's national team.

Related: Four Portland Thorns Players Help U.S. Women's Soccer Team Win World Cup

A crowd of 22,329 people broke the team record for highest attendance in team history.

It was the first home game back in Portland for midfielders Tobin Heath and Lindsey Horan, defender Emily Sonnett and goalkeeper Adrianna Franch after helping the U.S. team win the World Cup on July 7.

Related: Megan Rapinoe's Climb to the Golden Boot Began Along North Portland's Bluffs

The Thorns beat the Houston Dash 5-0, with four goals scored in the first half-hour.

"Twenty-two thousand [fans] on a Wednesday night is pretty good," Heath said after the game. "It was so great to have my teammates' back and to have the fans' back. It's always a special feeling, being here."

The four World Cup players were recognized in a rose ceremony and excited fans greeted them from the sidelines before the game started.

Heath, Horan, Franch, and Sonnett are also four of 28 women's soccer players listed as plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation, demanding equal pay and an end to gender discrimination.