PORTLAND, Maine – With the playoffs looming, two clubs hungry for points come together Sunday night when the Portland Hearts of Pine host AV Alta FC at Fitzpatrick Stadium.
The Hearts have 26 points, seven behind eighth-place Fort Wayne FC, which currently holds the final playoff spot. A win Sunday, combined with a little luck from the teams above them in the standings, would keep an interesting race to the playoffs alive for Portland, which broke its nine-game winless streak last weekend.
Alta sits in ninth place, one point outside the playoff table. It’s a familiar spot for Alta as it finished ninth during the 2025 campaign, two places behind Portland. Both teams were playing in their inaugural seasons in USL League One, and while the Hearts were able to make a deep playoff run a year ago, this season has been a struggle for Portland.
“Just gotta keep putting points on the board,” said Portland Coach Bobby Murphy following Friday’s practice. “Can’t worry about anything else because we don’t have anything else to worry about if we don’t.”
Portland played to a scoreless draw against Alta back in March while on the road in California. The Hearts had to play the final 32 minutes-plus down a man when midfielder Mikey Lopez received a second yellow card for the match. With Portland forced to focus on defending, Alta took 21 shots but only put three of them on goal. Still, Alta outpossessed Portland (57%-43%) and took nine corner kicks to Portland two.
Alta employs a fluid attack with much of its offense provided by wingers Jerry Desdunes (8 goals, 7 assists) and Adam Aoumaich (7 goals, 4 assists).
Altogether, Alta has scored 34 goals in 26 games (1.31 goals per game) and conceded 36 (1.38 gpg). The Hearts have scored 37 goals in 25 games (1.48 gpg) and conceded 45 (1.8 gpg), the third highest rate in USL1.
“Their starting positions are just starting positions – they’re not restricted to one area,” Lopez said after practice. “They can play all across the field however they want and it makes it difficult for defending them because you’re not defending the same person every single minute of the game, so you have to look at the different profiles of players and be aware of where guys are because they can overload different sections of the field.”
Murphy said a real key to the game could be his team’s discipline.
“They have some good athletes, like Jerry (Desdunes) out wide,” Murphy said. “We just have to not let their movement distract us from our shape. We have to keep our principles the same.”
Portland’s defense was stronger last weekend in the 2-1 victory over Westchester SC, which was a significant improvement over the previous two games, both losses, in which the Hearts gave up a total of seven goals.
“Our box defending was better, that’s the big thing, locking people up in the box, making it difficult for people,” Murphy said. “Our pressing is getting better. We are staying more compact so we aren’t giving up moments in transition. Field tilt was in our favor last game. We played in their half more than our half.”
As the captain of the team, Lopez was asked what message he has for the locker room, particularly after he helped lead the late season run to the playoffs in 2025.
“The only thing we can do is try and get wins,” Lopez said. “We have to be able to play our game and put on a show for our fans. Just stick to what we know how to do.”
Quick Hits:
Portland’s goalkeeper Hunter Morse received the most fan votes for the Save of the Week for Week 27. Morse made a spectacular kick save late in last Sunday’s victory against Westchester. It’s the sixth time this season that he was nominated for the award for league play (Morse also won the award for the second round of the USL Cup this season).
The “AV” in the name AV Alta is a common nickname in the Antelope Valley, which is where the team plays. The name Alta means “elevated” or “high” in Latin, and references the geographical elevation of the area known as the High Desert while serving as a metaphorical nod to the region’s roots in aerospace technology. The area is well known for its strong youth soccer.
Speaking of youth soccer, AV Alta is one of at least 11 teams in USL1 that have a youth academy. That’s mostly notable because the Hearts do not have an academy. But earlier this month, Portland hired Ray Saari as its new sporting director. Saari has said he has spoken to club ownership and forming a youth academy is something that was discussed.
