SALEM, Ore.
– Forward Teteh Bangura scored twice to lead the Cascade Surge to a 2-0 win over the Portland Timbers U-23s at McCulloch Stadium on Friday night. The Timbers U-23s held scorless for just the second time this season.
With the win, the Surge extends their winning streak to four games and continues to close the gap on Northwest Division leaders. Bangura scored both of his goals in the opening minutes of each half, capitalizing on errors committed by Portland.
Cascade opened the scoring in the fifth minute when Bangura pounced on a loose ball in Portland’s box. Timbers U-23s goalkeeper Austin Guerrero came out to challenge Bangura for the ball, and on the play, clipped him inside the box. The Surge were awarded a penalty kick, and Bangura converted the goal to put the Cascade a head 1-0.
The Timbers U-23s best scoring chance of the night came in the 33rd minute. Midfielder Roberto Farfan brought the ball down the left side of the field before serving a cross into the box for an unmarked Daniel Leach. Just in side the six, Leach headed the ball on frame, but Surge goalkeeper Steve Reese was in position to secure the shot and help preserve his clean sheet.
Bangura struck early again in the second half, when Cascade took advantage of a Timbers U-23s defensive miscue in the 47th minute and pushed Cascade ahead 2-0.
Portland returns home on Sunday afternoon to host the Vancouver Whitecaps Residency at PGE Park at 1 p.m. in a special doubleheader with the Portland Timbers first team. Tickets are available for $10 and can be purchased at the PGE Park box office, area Ticketmaster locations, online at
www.ticketmaster.com
or by phone at (800) 745-3000. The first team faces the Montreal Impact at 5 p.m.
Notes:
Farfan and defender Gemechu Abraham both started their first match of the season Friday … The Surge are unbeaten (4-0-1) at home this season ... Cascade goalkeeper Steve Reese was a member of the Portland Timbers from 2007-08 ... Both matches in which the Timbers U-23s were shutout have come on the road ... Defender Thomas Ryan is a native of Salem, Ore.
Lineups:
POR: GK Guerrero, D Guante, D Leach, D Brown, D Abraham (Harms, 58), M Hasson (Hemmi, 53), M Erskine (Flunder, 69), M vanSchaik (Richards, 37), M Farfan (Shergill, 57), F Kwesele (Ryan, 72), F Warner
CAS: GK Reese, D Smerke, D Milroy, D Patterson, D Woodward, M Patrick, M Sippola (Swenson, 89), M Burt, M Hafini (Andre, 43), F Chang (Knight, 43), F Bangura (Harms, 79)
