{"id":152794,"date":"2026-06-04T17:09:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T21:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=152794"},"modified":"2026-06-04T17:09:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T21:09:29","slug":"portland-fire-deep-dive-how-expansion-teams-keep-defying-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=152794","title":{"rendered":"Portland Fire Deep Dive: How Expansion Teams Keep Defying Expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WNBA reporter Noa Dalzell hosts a conversation with Portland Fire beat writer Sean Highkin, who covers the team for the Rose Garden Report. Noa and Sean discuss the team&#8217;s early success, the play of Bridget Carleton, Carla Leite, Sarah Ashlee Barker, Emily Engstler, and other key players. Plus, what&#8217;s made WNBA expansion teams successful, and how Alex Sarama has succeeded in Year 1.<\/p>\n<p>00:00 Intro<br \/>\n01:20 Feeling in Portland surrounding the Fire<br \/>\n08:25 Who\u2019s stood out so far<br \/>\n23:24 PrizePicks<br \/>\n25:30 Alex Sarama named Coach of the Month<br \/>\n35:13 Expectations for the rest of the season<br \/>\n44:00 Thanks for watching!<\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm?e=NSM9169815507\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>WNBA Today on CLNS is Powered by:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\ud83d\udcb0<b> Prize Picks &#8211; Sign up at <\/b><a href=\"http:\/\/prizepicks.onelink.me\/LME0\/CLNS\"><b>http:\/\/prizepicks.onelink.me\/LME0\/CLNS<\/b><\/a><b> &amp; Download the app today and use code CLNS to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup! <\/b><b><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WNBA reporter Noa Dalzell hosts a conversation with Portland Fire beat writer Sean Highkin, who covers the team for the Rose Garden Report. Noa and Sean discuss the team&#8217;s early success, the play of Bridget Carleton, Carla Leite, Sarah Ashlee Barker, Emily Engstler, and other key players. Plus, what&#8217;s made WNBA expansion teams successful, and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":367,"featured_media":152795,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24807,3333,25183],"tags":[24387,25334,24572],"class_list":["post-152794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-featured","category-featured-videos","category-wnba","tag-noa-dalzell","tag-portland-fire","tag-wnba"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Portland Fire Deep Dive: How Expansion Teams Keep Defying Expectations - CLNS Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Noa and Sean Highkin discuss the Fire&#039;s early success, the play of Bridget Carleton, Carla Leite, Sarah Ashlee Barker, Emily Engstler, and other key players.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=152794\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Portland Fire Deep Dive: How Expansion Teams Keep Defying Expectations - CLNS Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Noa and Sean Highkin discuss the Fire&#039;s early success, the play of Bridget Carleton, Carla Leite, Sarah Ashlee Barker, Emily Engstler, and other key players.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=152794\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CLNS Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CLNSmedia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-04T21:09:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/carleton-2-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1706\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CLNS Media\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@clnsmedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@clnsmedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CLNS Media\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=152794#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=152794\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"CLNS Media\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7d8a97a4842d86ebad1ccac3bbf0a732\"},\"headline\":\"Portland Fire Deep Dive: How Expansion Teams Keep Defying Expectations\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-04T21:09:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=152794\"},\"wordCount\":143,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=152794#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/carleton-2-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"noa dalzell\",\"Portland Fire\",\"WNBA\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Featured\",\"Featured Videos\",\"WNBA\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=152794\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=152794\",\"name\":\"Portland Fire Deep Dive: How Expansion Teams Keep Defying Expectations - CLNS Media\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=152794#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=152794#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/carleton-2-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-04T21:09:29+00:00\",\"description\":\"Noa and Sean Highkin discuss the Fire's early success, the play of Bridget Carleton, Carla Leite, Sarah Ashlee Barker, Emily Engstler, and other key players.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=152794#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=152794\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=152794#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/carleton-2-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/carleton-2-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1706,\"caption\":\"May 23, 2026; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Portland Fire forward Bridget Carleton (6) looks on against the Toronto Tempo at Coca-Cola Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?p=152794#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Portland Fire Deep Dive: How Expansion Teams Keep Defying Expectations\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"CLNS Media\",\"description\":\"Covering Boston Sports Since 2009\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"CLNS Media Company\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/clns.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/clns.jpg\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"CLNS Media Company\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/CLNSmedia\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/clnsmedia\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/clnsmedia\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCTNMXdUDhy_ivZkhbsQ_7ZA\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7d8a97a4842d86ebad1ccac3bbf0a732\",\"name\":\"CLNS Media\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/df3fe55307cc993fa952eab710b27200829c90ae621cb38eabc98f44d472ac35?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/df3fe55307cc993fa952eab710b27200829c90ae621cb38eabc98f44d472ac35?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/df3fe55307cc993fa952eab710b27200829c90ae621cb38eabc98f44d472ac35?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CLNS Media\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clnsmedia.com\\\/?author=367\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Portland Fire Deep Dive: How Expansion Teams Keep Defying Expectations - CLNS Media","description":"Noa and Sean Highkin discuss the Fire's early success, the play of Bridget Carleton, Carla Leite, Sarah Ashlee Barker, Emily Engstler, and other key players.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=152794","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Portland Fire Deep Dive: How Expansion Teams Keep Defying Expectations - CLNS Media","og_description":"Noa and Sean Highkin discuss the Fire's early success, the play of Bridget Carleton, Carla Leite, Sarah Ashlee Barker, Emily Engstler, and other key players.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=152794","og_site_name":"CLNS Media","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CLNSmedia\/","article_published_time":"2026-06-04T21:09:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1706,"url":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/carleton-2-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"CLNS Media","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@clnsmedia","twitter_site":"@clnsmedia","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CLNS Media","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=152794#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=152794"},"author":{"name":"CLNS Media","@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7d8a97a4842d86ebad1ccac3bbf0a732"},"headline":"Portland Fire Deep Dive: How Expansion Teams Keep Defying Expectations","datePublished":"2026-06-04T21:09:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=152794"},"wordCount":143,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=152794#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/carleton-2-scaled.jpg","keywords":["noa dalzell","Portland Fire","WNBA"],"articleSection":["Featured","Featured Videos","WNBA"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=152794","url":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=152794","name":"Portland Fire Deep Dive: How Expansion Teams Keep Defying Expectations - CLNS Media","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=152794#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=152794#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/carleton-2-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-04T21:09:29+00:00","description":"Noa and Sean Highkin discuss the Fire's early success, the play of Bridget Carleton, Carla Leite, Sarah Ashlee Barker, Emily Engstler, and other key players.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=152794#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=152794"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=152794#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/carleton-2-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/carleton-2-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1706,"caption":"May 23, 2026; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Portland Fire forward Bridget Carleton (6) looks on against the Toronto Tempo at Coca-Cola Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=152794#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Portland Fire Deep Dive: How Expansion Teams Keep Defying Expectations"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/","name":"CLNS Media","description":"Covering Boston Sports Since 2009","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/#organization","name":"CLNS Media Company","url":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/clns.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/clns.jpg","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"CLNS Media Company"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CLNSmedia\/","https:\/\/x.com\/clnsmedia","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/clnsmedia\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCTNMXdUDhy_ivZkhbsQ_7ZA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7d8a97a4842d86ebad1ccac3bbf0a732","name":"CLNS Media","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df3fe55307cc993fa952eab710b27200829c90ae621cb38eabc98f44d472ac35?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df3fe55307cc993fa952eab710b27200829c90ae621cb38eabc98f44d472ac35?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df3fe55307cc993fa952eab710b27200829c90ae621cb38eabc98f44d472ac35?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CLNS Media"},"url":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?author=367"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/367"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=152794"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152798,"href":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152794\/revisions\/152798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/152795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=152794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=152794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=152794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}