PORTLAND, Ore.
– The Portland Timbers battled expansion side, the Carolina Railhawks to a 0-0 draw in front of 5,026 at PGE Park Sunday night. The Timbers were held scoreless for just the second time this season despite an extra man as a Carolina player was sent off in the first half. Led by goalkeeper
Josh Wicks
, the Timbers defense continued its streak of shut out play.
Wicks recorded his third consecutive shut out of the season as the Timbers (3-1-2, 11pts) have not allowed a goal in 282 minutes. With the draw against Carolina (3-2-4, 13pts), the Timbers maintain their unblemished record of 3-0-2 at home.
The Timbers couldn’t capitalize on a one-man advantage during the final 51 minutes of play. Carolina midfielder
Jonny Steele
was ejected from the match in the 39th minute after being issued his second caution of the night with a hard tackle on defender
Scot Thompson
.
Both teams had scoring opportunities through the first half. In the 22nd minute, Carolina forward
Chris Carrieri
chipped a shot wide of the far post from the top left corner of the six-yard box.
In the 28th minute, midfielder
Andrew Gregor
nearly scored his fifth goal of the season with a 19-yard free kick from the top right corner of the box. His shot bent around Carolina’s four-man wall towards the top near corner of the goal but Railhawks goalkeeper Chris McClellan snagged the ball before it could sneak in.
The Timbers out shot Carolina 6-2 in the second half but couldn’t find the back of the net. The Timbers had 11 total shots in the match.
With an 11-day layoff until their next regular-season match, the Timbers face Montreal and Rochester on the road in back-to-back matches June 8 and 9. The Timbers will play a scrimmage on Saturday, June 2 against the Oregon United Soccer Academy U-23 team at Sheldon High School in Eugene. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. For more information visit,
www.oregonunitedsoccer.org
.
Notes: The Timbers surpassed the 500,000 regular-season attendance mark Sunday night. The Timbers 500,000 fan was Valerie Roska from Wilsonville, Ore. … Midfielder Lawrence Olum made his first career start against Carolina … Midfielder Tom Taylor made his Timbers debut entering the match as a sub in the second half … There were 42 fouls in the match including seven yellow cards and one red …
Line ups:
POR – GK Wicks, D Griffin, D J. Thompson, D S. Thompson, D Knowles, M Ready (Taylor, 45), M Poltl (Dombrowski, 67), M Olum (Hague, 79), M Gregor, F Jordan, F Bagley
CAR: GK McClellan, D Stokes, D Dombrowski, D Sanfillippo, D Norkus, M Low, M Brightwell, M Worthen, M Steele, F Edozien, F Carrieri
Scoring Summary:
None
