PORTLAND, Ore.
- Five different players scored and the Rochester Raging Rhinos handed the Portland Timbers their worst loss in five seasons with a 5-0 win before 5,315 Saturday night at PGE Park.
It was also the worst home defeat in Timbers history, breaking the previous mark of a 5-1 loss to Chicago on June 6, 1979 at Civic Stadium, when the club was a member of the North American Soccer League.
The Timbers (5-4-3, 18pts) have failed to gain a victory against Rochester in five seasons, and for the second time in the month of June, Portland gave up three first-half goals to the Raging Rhinos.
Rochester (5-4-1, 16pts) began the scoring when midfielder John Ball intercepted a pass, made a run to the far side of the pitch and deferred to Jonathan Bolanos on the wing. Bolanos then played it inside to Mauro Carabajal, who punched in a point-blank attempt past Portland goalkeeper Josh Saunders for the 1-0 advantage in the 15th minute.
Dan Antoniuk nearly evened the match in the 26th when he put a header on goal, but Rhinos goalkeeper Scott Vallow cradled the attempt to keep Portland scoreless.
Rochester handed itself a two-goal advantage later in the 37th minute on a strike from Ball, who laid a bouncing shot into the left side of the net on a corner kick play.
Pato Aguilera put the match out of reach when he unleashed on a booming shot from the top of the arc that sailed into its target in the 43rd minute.
Despite making four substitutions at halftime in an attempt to turn the tide, things got worse for the Portland side as Rochester added two more goals to its total, with Kirk Wilson tallying in the 47th and Rene Rivas scoring in the 54th minute.
The defending USL First Division champion-Montreal Impact will make the trip to PGE Park on Thursday, June 30. Kickoff is 7 p.m. (Pacific).
TIMBERS NOTES:
A portion of the proceeds from Saturday’s match went to the Oregon Youth Soccer Foundation to help fund scholarship programs for young soccer players in Oregon.
SCORING SUMMARY:
Carabajal, 15’ (Bolanos); Ball, 37’ (Carabajal); Aguilera, 43’ (UA); Wilson, 47’ (Sanfillippo); Rivas, 54’ (UA).
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
ROC Sedgewick, YC (25’), Carabajal, YC (32’); POR Alcaraz-Cuellar, YC (56’).
LINEUPS:
ROCHESTER (5-4-1) Vallow GK, Sanfillippo D, Schweitzer D, Perry D, Sedgewick D (Palguta 55’), Wilson M (Martinez 60’), Rivas M, Aguilera M (Mladenov 73’), Ball M, Bolanos F, Carabajal F (Howes 55’); PORTLAND (5-4-3) J. Saunders GK, Wilkinson D (Heinzen 45’), Thompson D, Morrison D, Alcaraz-Cuellar M, Winters M (Afash 79’), Higgins M (Benedetti 45’), Poltl M (Lines 45’), Miranda M, Antoniuk F, Alvarez F (Conway 45’).
