PORTLAND, Ore.
– For a good cause, the Portland Timbers and University of Portland men’s soccer team took to the field Wednesday night in a charity match at Merlo Field. The 1,142 in attendance helped raise nearly $8,000 for Mercy Corps and the organization’s relief efforts in Haiti following the earthquake.
Highlighting the contest was a late-match appearance by Timbers midfielder
James Marcelin
. A native of Haiti and a member of the Haitian National Team, Marcelin was near the city of Port-au-Prince when the earthquake hit the country last month. He entered the match near the 60th minute mark, and helped set up the second goal of the night in the Timbers’ 2-0 victory.
Against the Pilots, the Timbers fielded a squad of trialists from the club’s mini-camp this week and a handful of signed players. Trialist forward
Doug DeMartin
scored twice within a two-minute span midway through the second half to aid in the Timbers exhibition win.
DeMartin’s first strike came on a breakaway in the 62nd minute, and he put away a follow-up shot inside the left post from trialist Greg Folk’s shot off the crossbar in the 64th minute.
The team of Timbers and trialists had several good chances through the early going. Signed for the 2010 season, midfielder
Josh Cameron
forced Pilots goalkeeper Austin Guerrero into one of his two first half saves in the fifth minute lacing a shot from 25 yards out.
The Pilots assembled three quality attempts in the contest – two by midfielder Michael Neilsen in the second half. In the first half, a free kick by midfielder Vlastimi Davidovic from 22 yards out found the side netting. In the second period, Nielsen pushed a shot from the doorstep wide of the left post, and then late in the match, blasted a shot from the top of the box wide of the near stick.
In goal for the Timbers, the trialist duo of
Matt Pyzdrowski
and
Brook Johnson
faced three total UP shots, and recorded one save to earn the shutout.
The Timbers mini-camp concludes Thursday on the campus of the University of Portland.
Notes:
The Portland Beavers & Portland Timbers Community Fund raised an additional $1,000 for Mercy Corps through a silent auction of Timbers and other sports memorabilia at the event … Signed players appearing for the Timbers in Wednesday’s charity match were Marcelin, Cameron and
Rodrigo Lopez
… The Pilots featured two players who suited up for the Timbers U-23s in 2009 – Guerrero and midfielder Jarad vanSchaik.
Starting Lineups
Timbers: GK Pyzdrowski, D Mcwele, D Bernstein, D McLaughlin, D Zaher, M Crasilneck, M Gaudet, M Montegalvan, M Cameron, F DeMartin, F Perera
Pilots: GK Guerrero, D Grubisich, D Tonkel, D Kraus, D Kawulok, M Sleven, M Davidovic, M Barbaree, M Nielsen, M vanSchaik, F Luke
