Olivia Moultrie Suffers Season-Ending ACL Injury

Portland Thorns star Olivia Moultrie has suffered a season-ending ACL injury, a brutal blow for club and country at the sharp end of her breakout year.

The 20-year-old midfielder tore her right knee ligament in training last week, the club confirmed on Tuesday, and has been placed on the season-ending injury list.

On Instagram, Moultrie laid bare the scale of the setback.

“Heartbroken doesn’t even begin to sum up all of the feelings right now,” she wrote. “To be taken away from something you love more than anything is a feeling I never wanted to experience. I know there is a reason this path has been chosen for me and I can’t promise everything but I can promise I’ll be back and I’ll be better.”

For Portland, it ends a campaign in which Moultrie had become one of the league’s most dynamic young creators. She produced five goals and five assists for the Thorns this season, driving attacks, setting tempo, and increasingly looking like the heartbeat of their midfield.

Her rise has never been quiet. Moultrie signed with Portland in 2021 after successfully suing the NWSL over its rule preventing clubs from signing players under 18, a landmark case that reshaped the league’s approach to young talent. Since then, she has pushed every ceiling placed in front of her.

Thorns president and general manager Jeff Agoos underlined that same relentless edge in his response to the injury.

“Olivia is one of the most driven players I have been around, and she will use that drive during her recovery and rehabilitation,” Agoos said in a club statement. “She has our full support and every resource this club can put behind her.”

The loss stretches far beyond Providence Park. Moultrie has already made 18 appearances for the United States, scoring five goals, and was crowned U.S. Soccer Young Player of the Year in 2023. Her trajectory pointed straight toward a major role in the next cycle.

Now, the national team must plan without her. Moultrie is expected to miss the Concacaf W Championship, the qualifying pathway for next summer’s Women’s World Cup, stripping the U.S. of one of its brightest emerging attacking midfielders at a crucial moment in transition.

For a player who has spent her career fast-forwarding timelines, the challenge now is patience. The stage will still be there when she returns. The question is how much more dangerous she’ll be when she steps back onto it.