The Portland Timbers embarked on a trip to California to face off against the San Jose Earthquakes for the second week in a row on Sunday. Fresh off a loss at Jeld-Wen Field on April 14, the Earthquakes were looking to notch their first win in four matches. The Timbers, on the other hand, were trying to jump up another spot in the MLS Western Conference standings and put first-year head coach Caleb Porter on a winning streak for the first time since he joined the team. San Jose was playing without star forward Alan Gordon, who is serving a four-game suspension—three games for an antigay slur directed at Will Johnson in the last matchup with Portland and one more for an elbow to Mikael Silvestre’s head a few minutes later in the same game.
With their home crowd behind them, the Earthquakes came out aggressively, but Timbers goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts proved his worth by shutting down the early attack. Though San Jose had a couple of good looks on goal in the first half, they failed to convert, and the two teams headed into the locker room at halftime tied at 0-0.
In the 58th minute, the Timbers drove down the field and finally broke through the Earthquakes’ defense as Ryan Johnson’s shot was deflected and midfielder Diego Valeri ended up with a loose ball in front of the Earthquakes goal to put it away for the easy score. The goal was Valeri’s second of the year.
San Jose was determined not to go down without a fight, however. Using the late deficit as motivation, the Earthquakes sent several shots on goal to try and net the equalizer, and with just two minutes remaining in stoppage time Earthquakes rookie Adam Jahn got possession of the ball in the Timbers box and netted a goal to tie the game as the crowd at Buck Shaw
Stadium erupted.
The Timbers are now 2-1-4 on the season, just one spot above San Jose in the standings. Portland will take on the No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference this weekend as they head to the plains to battle Sporting Kansas City on Saturday. The game is set to begin at 5:30 p.m.