The Portland Timbers played host to the United Soccer League’s Wilmington Hammerheads on Saturday in the third round of the 100th annual Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, a nationwide tournament for all teams within the United States Soccer Federation. The Hammerheads faced a tall order as they tried to best the Timbers at home, but had a bit of help in the effort as Portland sat several starters, including goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts, striker Ryan Johnson and midfielder Diego Valeri.
Timbers tame Hammerheads at home
The Portland Timbers played host to the United Soccer League’s Wilmington Hammerheads on Saturday in the third round of the 100th annual Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, a nationwide tournament for all teams within the United States Soccer Federation. The Hammerheads faced a tall order as they tried to best the Timbers at home, but had a bit of help in the effort as Portland sat several starters, including goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts, striker Ryan Johnson and midfielder Diego Valeri.
The decision opened the door for some of Portland’s exciting reserves to get some reps on the pitch. Though the U.S. Open is something of an afterthought for many MLS squads, Timbers head coach Caleb Porter takes the contest very seriously. “I wrote the [Timbers] a letter before I even met them,” Porter said. “And one of the things I talked about was that our goal is to win trophies here, plain and simple.”
With several of the team’s star players on the bench for a game that did not affect the MLS season standings, Jeld-Wen Field was at about half capacity—but the crowd was characteristically raucous as the Timbers took the field.
MLS rookie Frederic Piquionne was among the players who got the chance to showcase their talent against Wilmington. He wasted no time getting into the match, receiving a corner kick from team captain Will Johnson in the second minute that he headed past the Hammerhead line to put the Timbers up early and set the pace for the match.
Unsatisfied with his first goal of the season, Piquionne struck again in the 17th minute, getting an assist from Michael Harrington to put another header out of reach of the Wilmington goalie. The striker made it a hat trick 17 minutes after that, breaking from the left side of the box and netting a half-volley in the right corner of the goal for a 3-0 Portland advantage—becoming just the second Timbers player to earn a hat trick in U.S. Open Cup play.
But he didn’t stop there. In the 45th minute, with halftime quickly approaching, Johnson booted a perfect free kick into the pack and Piquionne connected on a header to send the Timbers into the locker room up 4-0. Giving the Hammerheads a much-needed reprieve, Piquionne hung up his cleats for the night when the Timbers substituted in forward Sebastian Rincon in the 53rd minute.
Wilmington finally got on the board eight minutes later when Paul Nicholson hit a handsome half-bicycle kick past Timbers reserve goalie Milos Kocic, cutting the lead to three. But that was all they would get as Johnson recorded his third assist of the game, sending a pass to Mamadou “Futty” Danso in the 73rd minute that Danso headed into the net for the final goal of the night.
Porter was respectful of the opponents in his postgame press conference but made it clear that his team had intended to make a statement. “We need to appreciate the fact that we’re in Major League Soccer, and at the end of the game there should be no doubt to the players, the coach and our supporters which team is the Major League Soccer team,” Porter said.
The Timbers advanced to the next round of the U.S. Open Cup to face the North American Soccer League’s Tampa Bay Rowdies on June 12 at Jeld-Wen Field. Before that matchup, however, the team will fly to the Windy City for a meeting with the Chicago Fire on June 8, with the official viewing party scheduled to take place at Marathon Taverna at 5:30 p.m.
