In 2009, the club managed one of the longest unbeaten runs in American professional soccer history when the Portland Timbers went 24 straight league matches without defeat. During an incredible four-month run that lasted 126 days, Portland had both a five-match winning streak and a three-match winning streak.
The epic streak began inauspiciously with a nil-nil draw in the club's 2009 home opener against the Carolina Railhawks. Chris Seitz, who played just two matches for the Timbers on loan at the time from Real Salt Lake, had six saves to earn the clean sheet. In the first five matches of the streak, Portland had two wins to go with three draws, but after a 1-1 tie at Puerto Rico on May 22, 2009, the club found its groove. Two days after drawing Puerto Rico, Futty Danso delivered a game-winning goal for a 2-1 road victory in a rematch.
The Timbers stretched the streak to 12 games after back-to-back dominating victories over the Minnesota Thunder (5-1) and Montreal Impact (4-0) in late June, receiving goals from six different players. As June moved into July, the undefeated streak rolled on. Defender David Hayes helped keep the unbeaten streak in tact with a 78th-minute equalizer in a 1-1 draw on the road against Miami FC Blues on July 17. The draw was one of four straight road results during the month of July.
During a congested, seven-game August schedule, Portland rattled off five straight victories in just 17 days. Some of the highlights from that five-match winning streak include winning the Cascadia Cup after a 1-0 victory against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Aug. 6, and a pair of victories on a two-game road trip to Rochester and Montreal. Goals from Takayuki Suzuki, Ryan Pore, Keith Savage and Mandjou Keita led Portland to a 4-1 win over the Rochester Rhinos, who had never lost to the Timbers at home.
On a soggy evening in Charleston, S.C., the Timbers pushed their unbeaten streak to 24 games on Aug. 28, with a scoreless draw against the Battery in which goalkeeper Steve Cronin recorded his ninth shutout of the season.
The impressive streak came to an end Sept. 3 as the club suffered its first loss in 25 matches at the hand of Rochester. Trailing 1-0 heading into the final 10 minutes of the match, Pore found the equalizer in the 81st minute only to have the Rhinos notch the winner in second-half stoppage time.
The streak propelled the Timbers to the top of the USL First Division table, finishing the campaign with a 16-4-10 (58pts) record and the Commissioner's Cup. The 2009 season joins the 2004 and 1975 seasons as the only two years in franchise history where the Portland Timbers finished at the top of the regular season league-wide table.
