BURNABY, B.C.
– David Testo scored a pair of goals and Joey Gjertsen tallied a pair of assists as the Vancouver Whitecaps defeated the Portland Timbers 3-0 Friday night at Swangard Stadium.
With the win, the Whitecaps (6-2-7, 25pts) snapped the Timbers’ eight-game unbeaten run. Portland had not lost since May 19 against Rochester at PGE Park.
The loss takes the Timbers to 1-11-1 all-time in regular-season games in Vancouver since Portland joined the league in 2001.
The Whitecaps took the lead early after Gjertsen found Testo open in midfield. Testo controlled the ball, beat his defender, then lobbed the ball over diving Timbers goalkeeper Josh Saunders to take the 1-0 lead.
Portland (5-5-5, 20pts) had a chance to even the score in the 56th minute when Tom Poltl stole the ball from Jeff Clarke. Poltl played the ball forward to the feet of forward Drew McAthy, but the ball was taken off McAthy’s feet by Whitecaps goalkeeper Tony Caig.
The Whitecaps doubled their advantage in the 63rd minute after Steve Kindel got the ball on the left wing. Kindel brought the ball upfield and crossed it into the box. Testo was lurking just six yards from goal and he headed the ball home to put the Whitecaps up 2-0.
Vancouver got a third in the 66th minute after Gjertsen’s cross into the box found Tony Donatelli unmarked at the far post, who buried his header into the back of the net.
The Timbers return to action at PGE Park on Sunday when expansion franchise Miami FC makes its first-ever visit to Portland. The game will be broadcast regionally on Fox Sports Net Northwest, with kickoff set for 6 p.m.
HEAD COACH CHRIS AGNELLO ON THE MATCH:
”Obviously, we’re very disappointed to come up here and not get a result. We felt very confident coming in here after having some time off, and we felt that we matched up well against Vancouver. Unfortunately, we had some tough injuries occur in training this week, so we weren’t even able to carry a full bench.”
“At the end of the day, though, we were outplayed, and we’ll take what we can from this match. We’ve got less than 48 hours to prepare for Miami, so we’ll have to sit down and come up with our game plan very soon. I think we can rebound well from this game, though, and get a great result against Miami.”
NOTES:
Defender Jacobi Goodfellow suffered an injury late this week during training and was not able to participate … Goodfellow and forward Mamba Chisoni will have their injuries re-evaluated prior to Sunday’s match … Troy Ready made his first appearance since May 14 at Puerto Rico … the three goals allowed tied a season high, set on May 12 at Miami and May 14 at Puerto Rico.
SCORING SUMMARY:
VAN: Testo 9’ (Gjertsen), Testo 63’ (Kindel), Donatelli 66’ (Gjertsen).
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
POR: Poltl YC (62’), Alcaraz-Cuellar YC (70’); VAN: Testo YC (32’).
LINEUPS:
VANCOUVER (6-2-7) T. Caig GK, S. Klein D (Noreiga 69’), A. Cann D (Donatelli 60’), R. Suarez D, G. Lyall D, J. Clarke M (Jones 74’), M. Nash M (Matondo 70’), S. Kindel M, J. Alberts M (Morris 60’), J. Gjertsen F, D. Testo F.
PORTLAND (5-5-5) J. Saunders GK, L. Morrison D, S. Thompson D, S. Bullen D, M. Randolph D, H. Alcaraz-Cuellar M (Marcum 75’), O. Bullen M (Ready 26’)(Iniguez 65’), L. Kreamalmeyer M, T. Poltl M, B. Alvarez F, D. McAthy F.
