VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.
- Felix Brillant scored a goal and collected an assist to lead the Virginia Beach Mariners over the Portland Timbers 3-1 Thursday night at Virginia Beach Sportsplex.
The Mariners’ leading scorer, Greg Simmonds, put his team ahead in the 80th minute on an assist from Brillant for his seventh goal of the season.
Brillant put the game away in the 83rd minute with a shot past Timbers goalkeeper Josh Saunders on an assist from goalkeeper Matthew Nelson.
Portland (5-11-5, 20pts) continues to struggle, as they have lost their last seven league games, including the last five on the road.
The Mariners (6-5-6, 24pts) ran their unbeaten streak against the Timbers to five games all-time.
Luke Kreamalmeyer continued his strong play, sending a shot past Nelson in the 39th minute. Newly acquired forward Yuri Morales helped set up the shot for Kreamalmeyer to put the Timbers ahead early, 1-0.
The Timbers entered the second half with the lead, but they fell victim to an own-goal. A ball was served into the penalty box on a Mariners corner kick, and it was not cleared out. The ball then careened off of the foot of a Portland player and into the goal.
The Timbers had a chance to break the tie in the 67th minute when Kreamalmeyer took a penalty kick, but he was unable to cash in on the opportunity.
Up next, the Timbers travel to Toronto for their final road game of the season on Saturday, July 29. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. (Pacific).
HEAD COACH CHRIS AGNELLO ON THE MATCH
:
“We played fantastic soccer in the first half. We scored a goal on a play that was set up by Yuri Morales. He was a huge asset to us tonight. He also created the penalty kick we had in the second half. We got some very good minutes out of some other guys. We will just have to play to our strengths (in Toronto). We’ll go with the guys that we think are fighting the hardest and doing their best and see if we can’t get them to get a result on Saturday night.”
NOTES
: Jacobi Goodfellow was in the lineup tonight. He will instead serve a one-game suspension on Saturday night in Toronto as he has reached his yellow-card limit on the season, according to Agnello … newly acquired Timbers Morales and Mike Chabala were both in the starting lineup.
SCORING SUMMARY
: POR: Kreamalmeyer 39’ (UA); VB: Portland 60’ (OG), Simmonds 80’ (Brillant), Brillant 83’ (Nelson).
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
: POR: Wilkinson YC (8’), Nsien YC (61’), Poltl YC (62’); VB: Nusum YC (25’), Bilyk YC (90’).
LINEUPS
: PORTLAND (5-11-5): J. Saunders GK, S. Thompson D, J. Goodfellow D, M. Nsien D, M. Chabala D, O. Bullen M (Poltl 32’), L. Kreamalmeyer M, G. Wilkinson M (Iniguez 60’), L. Morrison M, H. Alcaraz-Cuellar F (S. Bullen 55’), Y. Morales F.
VIRGINIA BEACH (6-5-6): M. Nelson GK, A. Woods D, S. Danbusky D (Brillant 69’), C. Demmin D, C. Schwarze D (Low 45’), J. Bilyk M, S. Shak M, T. O’Neill M, J. Fenger M (Cephas 74’), J. Nusum F (Mack 45’), G. Simmonds F.
