LAST SEASON:
Regular season record: 18-3-7, 1st place in Eastern Conference; lost to Seattle in first round of playoffs
Record against active USL-1 teams: 8-2-6 (explanation)
RD's 2004 prediction: n/a
Portland finished the regular season with the most points, the most goals, the largest goal differential, and the most points per match…and then crashed and burned pretty quickly in the playoffs.  Portland started the season winning six straight, and went 7-3-0 in their last 10 regular season matches.  In the middle, they were just 5-0-7.

 

SEACREST, OUT:
M Andrew Gregor (2+2=6) to Seattle
M Alex Bengard 7 assists; 23 starts; to Virginia Beach
F Alan Gordon (17+1=35) to Los Angeles; First-Team All League; Rookie of the Year; MVP runner-up; goal leader; three Teams of Week; two Player of Week
Gordon

 

BACK IN BLACK:
M Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar (5+10=20); All-League Second Team; assist leader; three TOW
F Byron Alvarez (16+4=36); All-League First Team; POW
F Fadi Afash five goals in nine games off the bench
GK Josh Saunders (1.106 GAA, 6 SO)
Afash

 

FRESH MEAT:
M Aaran Lines from Arka Gdynia (Poland)
M Shaun Higgins from Orange County
M Tom Poltl from Orange County
Lines

 

LOCAL HISTORY:
- Rochester is 2-0-0 against Portland
- Kirk Wilson had a goal and assist for Rochester in a 2-1 win against Portland at PGE Park on June 17, 2004
- Portland’s other match against Rochester was a 1-0 loss at Frontier on August 5, 2001, in which Mickey Trotman received the final yellow card of his tragically short life

 

THE LOWDOWN:
Portland, also under new ownership for the 2005 campaign, can’t feel too sweetly about losing Gordon, or about draft pick (Ohio State forward Justin Cook) going down with a season-ending ACL injury.  They can, however, pride themselves on having the oldest team this side of Rochester, with 38-year-old Scott Benedetti leading the charge (Jesum Pete, that’s even older than Lenin Steenkamp!).  So the Timbers are without their top scorer, they’re older than dirt, their new owners appear to be too cheap to find a top-shelf striker, and they don’t have Edmonton, Calgary and Milwaukee to kick around anymore.  Sounds like 2005 will be a blast!

 

RD's 2005 prediction: 11-5-12; 6th place and out of playoff contention

Back to the 2005 preview