Sinclair scores in retirement match, Thorns down Angel City 3-0 to clinch playoff spot before 23,000

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Christine Sinclair scored in her celebratory retirement match and the Portland Thorns clinched a playoff spot with a 3-0 victory over Angel City on Friday night.

Sinclair, who is playing in her final season, scored in the 16th minute in front of 23,212 fans at Providence Park. Sophia Smith and Morgan Weaver also scored for Portland in its last regular-season match.

Sinclair's club career was extended with the victory, but Portland won't know its opening-round opponent until this weekend's final games are wrapped up.

The 41-year-old Sinclair, who retired from the Canadian national team last year as international soccer's most prolific scorer (190 goals), helped the Thorns win the inaugural NWSL championship in 2013 and titles in 2017 and 2022.

She is among just three active players in the NWSL who have played for the same team since the league launched in 2013. The others are Jess Fishlock and Lu Barnes of the Seattle Reign.

Sinclair has scored a club-record 66 regular-season goals, ranking third in league history. Friday night's game was her 200th appearance for Portland.

After Sinclair's goal, Smith added her 12th of the season in the 26th minute and Weaver scored in first-half stoppage time.

Sinclair was subbed out in the 83rd minute to a lengthy ovation and toasted in a post-game ceremony.

"Some of the best moments of my life have been on this pitch. So just a massive thank you," she said to the crowd.

She finished her international career last year as the world’s top goal scorer among both women and men with 190 goals. Sinclair won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics and bronze medals at the 2012 and 2016 Games.

She’s also among just five players to appear in six Women's World Cups, and one of three players to score in five.

A native of Burnaby, British Columbia, Sinclair won NCAA championships with the University of Portland in 2002 and 2005.

Esther González scored a pair of goals in visiting Gotham's 4-1 win over the Utah Royals.

Yazmeen Ryan scored in the 16th minute for Gotham, which has already clinched a playoff spot. Mandy Freeman added her first NWSL goal some two minutes later.

Hannah Betfort's goal for Utah in the 74th made it 2-1 before Esther got two goals to close it out.

Utah was already eliminated from the playoffs.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Portland Thorns forward Christine Sinclair (12) shakes the hand of forward Sophia Smith after Smith's goalduring the first half of an NWSL soccer match against Angel City FC at Providence Park on Friday Nov. 1, 2024 in Portland, Ore. (Sean Meagher/The Oregonian via AP)

Portland Thorns midfielder Morgan Weaver (22) scores a goal on a header in extra time during the first half of an NWSL soccer match against Angel City FC at Providence Park on Friday Nov. 1, 2024 in Portland, Ore. (Sean Meagher/The Oregonian via AP)

Portland Thorns forward Christine Sinclair (12) celebrates after her goal during the first half of an NWSL soccer match against Angel City FC at Providence Park on Friday Nov. 1, 2024 in Portland, Ore. (Sean Meagher/The Oregonian via AP)

Portland Thorns forward Christine Sinclair (12) scores a goal during the first half of an NWSL soccer match against Angel City FC at Providence Park on Friday Nov. 1, 2024 in Portland, Ore. (Sean Meagher/The Oregonian via AP)

Portland Thorns forward Christine Sinclair smiles toward a young fan in the stands during the first half of an NWSL soccer match against Angel City FC at Providence Park on Friday Nov. 1, 2024 in Portland, Ore. (Sean Meagher/The Oregonian via AP)

Portland Thorns forward Christine Sinclair (12) celebrates after her goal during the first half of an NWSL soccer match against Angel City FC at Providence Park on Friday Nov. 1, 2024 in Portland, Ore. (Sean Meagher/The Oregonian via AP)

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Conservative Party on Saturday elected Kemi Badenoch as its new leader as it tries to rebound from a crushing election defeat that ended 14 years in power.

Badenoch (pronounced BADE-enock) defeated rival lawmaker Robert Jenrick in a vote of almost 100,000 members of the right-of-center party. She is the first Black woman to lead a major British political party.

Badenoch replaces former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who in July led the Conservatives to their worst election result since 1832. The Conservatives lost more than 200 seats, taking their tally down to 121.

The new leader’s daunting task is to try to restore the party’s reputation after years of division, scandal and economic tumult, hammer Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s policies on key issues including the economy and immigration, and return the Conservatives to power at the next election, due by 2029.

“The task that stands before us is tough but simple,” Badenoch said in a victory speech to a roomful of Conservative lawmakers, staff and journalists in London.

“Our first responsibility as His Majesty’s loyal opposition is to hold this Labour government to account. Our second is no less important. It is to prepare over the course of the next few years for government, to ensure that by the time of the next election, we have not just a clear set of Conservative pledges that appeal to the British people, but a clear plan for how to implement them, a clear plan to change this country by changing the way that government works."

A business secretary in the previous Conservative government, Badenoch was born in London to Nigerian parents and spent much of her childhood in the West African country.

The 44-year-old former software engineer depicts herself as a disruptor, arguing for a low-tax, free-market economy and pledging to “rewire, reboot and reprogram” the British state.

A critic of multiculturalism and self-proclaimed enemy of wokeness, Badenoch has drawn criticism for saying recently said that “not all cultures are equally valid,” and for suggesting that maternity pay was excessive.

In a race that has lasted more than three months, Conservative lawmakers reduced the field from six candidates in a series of votes before putting the final two to the wider party membership.

Both finalists came from the right of the party, and argued they can win voters back from Reform U.K., the hard-right, anti-immigrant party led by populist politician Nigel Farage that has eaten away at Conservative support.

But the party also lost many voters to the winning party, Labour, and to the centrist Liberal Democrats, and some Conservatives worry that tacking right will lead the party away from public opinion.

Britain's Member of Parliament Kemi Badenoch's husband Hamish applauds as she was announced as the new Conservative Party leader following the vote by party members, at 8 Northumberland Avenue in central London, Saturday Nov. 2, 2024. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)

Britain's Member of Parliament Kemi Badenoch speaks after being elected as the new leader of the opposition Conservative Party, in London, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

FILE - Kemi Badenoch, Britain's Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade, Minister for Women and Equalities leaves after attending a cabinet meeting in Downing Street in London, on Jan. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

Britain's Member of Parliament Kemi Badenoch is congratulated by Robert Jenrick after being announced as the new Conservative Party leader following the vote by party members, at 8 Northumberland Avenue in central London, Saturday Nov. 2, 2024. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)

FILE - Conservative leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch addresses members during the Conservative Party Conference at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)