PORTLAND, Ore.
– The Portland Timbers take their season-long, eight-game unbeaten streak on the road this weekend as they visit Crystal Palace Baltimore on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. (Pacific) at Paul Angelo Russo Stadium.
Saturday’s match will be broadcast live on Newsradio 750 KXL, with a live video webcast available online at
www.portlandtimbers.com/live
. Announced earlier this week, Saturday’s kickoff time was changed to the 1:30 p.m. (Pacific) start.
While the Timbers have already secured a spot in the postseason, the club continues the chase for one of the top four seeds in the USSF Division-2 Pro League. Currently ranked fourth in the overall league standings, the Timbers can clinch a position in the top four with a win Saturday. The top eight teams in the league advance to the playoffs, regardless of conference alignment.
With a road victory over the Puerto Rico Islanders last weekend, the Timbers stretched their unbeaten streak to eight matches. Midfielder
Kalif Alhassan
scored the game-winning goal from distance in second-half stoppage time and the defense logged its fourth consecutive shutout in the win. Portland’s backline has not conceded a goal in the last 424 minutes of play. The last goal allowed by the Timbers was in the 26th minute in a 1-1 draw Aug. 26 against the Austin Aztex.
Portland’s defense, which ranks second in the league in fewest goals allowed this season (20), has conceded just three goals and has shut out six of its last seven opponents during the unbeaten streak.
On the road for a third straight weekend, the Timbers (12-7-9, 45pts) are 3-0-1 away from Portland during their unbeaten streak and have not allowed a goal in those four contests.
With two games left to play in the regular season, midfielder
Ryan Pore
holds the lead in the race for the league’s scoring title and Golden Boot award. He has scored a league-high 15 goals and has a total of 34 points on the season.
The Timbers and Crystal Palace Baltimore (6-16-6, 24pts) conclude their four-game, regular-season series on Saturday. After losing the first two encounters, the Timbers defeated Baltimore 3-0 at PGE Park on Aug. 29 as part of the team’s current unbeaten streak. In the last visit to Baltimore on May 22, the Timbers had a one-goal lead erased by two goals from Crystal Palace Baltimore in the final 16 minutes of the match in an early-season 2-1 loss. Portland is 1-2-0 against Crystal Palace Baltimore on the campaign.
ABOUT CRYSTAL PALACE BALTIMORE
Crystal Palace Baltimore concludes a three-game homestand as they play host to the Timbers in their regular-season home finale at Paul Angelo Russo Stadium. Baltimore has lost its last six games, including a 4-2 loss to the Carolina RailHawks in its last match Sept. 18. With the loss last weekend, Crystal Palace Baltimore was eliminated from postseason contention. Since facing the Timbers nearly three weeks ago, the club has signed three new players – forwards Alan Sanchez and Adrian Bumbutt and goalkeeper Mark Murphy. Baltimore has also released three players since the last meeting with Portland, including forward Yaikel Perez, who scored the game-winning goal in a 1-0 win against the Timbers on May 13.
