The Hearts of Pine have traveled across the country to try to finish their goal-scoring opportunities Saturday night against a Spokane Velocity club that has blanked its two previous opponents.
Portland (7-12-9) left Thursday for the cross-country journey, giving players a full 48 hours to prepare for the 9 p.m. EDT match.
“The key’s going to be for us to just stay in the game,” said Hearts coach Bobby Murphy on Thursday. “With the 12-hour travel days, it’s always hard, so the key is staying in the game. You’ll get a chance to score no matter who you play – just don’t be down 2-0 when you get that chance.”
What does a Hearts player do to acclimate himself to be ready for the match?
“There’s a little bit of altitude there but it’s just dry,” Murphy said. “Plus with the flying, it’s just making sure guys have their water bottles, they’re drinking all the time. And it’s making sure they get enough sleep. So we’ll train (Friday) and then give them the afternoon off, let them nap.”
By winning its two previous matches with shutouts, Spokane (14-8-4) has put itself in position to take over fourth place overall and host a playoff game. The Velocity are in fifth place, two points behind One Knoxville SC, but Spokane has also played two fewer games.
“It’s an older group that’s been together for a while, they got a pretty set way the way they play,” Murphy said. “They’re at home, they have a big and expansive field. We have to be ready.”
The Velocity have been a tough draw at home, having gone 10-3-1 at ONE Spokane Stadium. Conversely, Portland has struggled on the road (2-6-6), particularly in the final minutes of multiple matches.
Spokane goalkeeper Sean Lewis, the reigning USL League One Goalkeeper of the Year, has helped the Velocity concede the third-fewest goals (33) this season. For its part, Portland has given up the fourth-most goals (50).
In many ways, the Velocity’s offense continues to run through midfielder Luis Gil, who is second on the club with five goals. Of course, Hearts villain Nil Vinyals remains an important player for Spokane. Most recently he has been coming off the bench, just as he did last fall when his dramatic goal in the 121st minute of the match tied the semifinal against Portland. The last-minute goal sent the game to penalty kicks, which Spokane won 6-5 to eliminate the Hearts and advance to the championship (the Velocity lost 2-0 to One Knoxville).
Sporting Director Ray Saari said he has been watching the Hearts practice and feels optimistic about the club’s chances on the road.
“We’ve had a good week of training,” Saari said Thursday. “The boys have put in a good shift this week and are excited about the opportunity to go up there and grab a win.”
This season, the playoffs look highly unlikely for Portland, which is eight points out of a playoff spot with only four matches remaining.
Murphy said that his message to his team has been that while the results of the season have been disappointing, it’s important to play hard and give fans something to remember.
“Make sure you give the people who come out and support the club something to be proud of,” Murphy said.
He’s also reminded his players to enjoy these final moments of the season.
“One of the amazing things about this profession is you develop really unbelievable relationships, which is on the plus side, but the flip side of that coin is none of those relationships last very long because of the transient nature of what we do,” Murphy said. “So you have a month left. Really enjoy each other, honor each other by playing hard.”
Quick notes:
The Hearts’ Jay Tee Kamara won the USL1 Goal of the Week for his stunning “one vs. everyone else” effort last Saturday vs. Sarasota.
Spokane has its own travel issues as Saturday’s match will be its third over eight days. Those first two games were on the road, which were trips to Wisconsin and Tennessee.
What impact will all of that travel have? Surprisingly, studies have shown that players who competed midweek and also during the ensuing weekend generally don’t show a drop in performance, but the chances of injury increase.
In a 2010 study published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers tracked 32 players on a Champions League club over two seasons and compared one-match and two-match weeks. Running distance, high-intensity running, sprint distance and number of sprints didn’t change significantly, but the injury rate was far higher in two-match weeks: 25.6 versus 4.1 injuries per 1,000 hours of exposure. The authors concluded that 72 to 96 hours between matches seemed sufficient to maintain physical performance but not long enough to keep injury rates low.Saturday night’s match can be viewed on ESPN+.
One interesting connection between Maine and Spokane involves a man named Francis Lewis Clark, who was born in Bangor in 1861. He went on to become one of Spokane’s first millionaires, investing in mining, banking, real estate and the largest flour mill in the state.
In January 1914, while in Santa Barbara, Clark put his wife on a train, kissed her goodbye and was never seen again. His hat turned up on a nearby beach.