The Portland Hearts of Pine could not snap their five-game winless streak Wednesday night but still came out of their road match with a point against defending champion One Knoxville SC.
Getting anything at Covenant Health Park is never easy. One Knox went undefeated at home in 2025 on their way to winning both the regular season and the USL League One playoffs. This season, the fourth place One Knox squad came into the game 6-3-1 when defending its home field.
The Hearts (5-9-7) were able to accomplish one goal set by their coach, Bobby Murphy, who had spoken about the need to score the first goal of the game. Midfielder Diego Gonzalez saw to that with a truly audacious goal (more on that to come) to give Portland a 1-0 lead in the second half.
But what is likely the Hearts’ biggest weakness of the season rose up again when Portland gave up the tying goal in the 86th minute. It’s been an unfortunate trend this season, and is a good example of the variables that are professional soccer, because late-game heroics were a hallmark of Portland’s first-ever season in 2025.
Here are three key takeaways from the game:
The Hearts’ offense continues to struggle. Over the last six games of this winless streak, which has been the longest in the club’s short history, Portland has only scored seven times.
One Knox controlled possession for nearly 70 percent of the game. Murphy has long believed that possession is an overplayed statistic, as he prefers an attack focused on effective, purposeful possession, fast transitions, and an aggressive, direct style of play.
But those traits have often been missing this season, undoubtedly because two strong offensive players (Masashi Wada and Titus Washington) have been out with serious injuries. Ollie Wright (second in goals this year with 5) also missed the match after receiving a yellow card in last Sunday’s game, which was his fifth of the year, triggering a one-game league suspension.Without them, Portland was somewhat toothless. The Hearts managed seven shots, only two of which were on goal. Comparatively, One Knox fired 17 shots, nine of which were on goal. One Knox also completed more than twice as many passes as Portland (553 to 250) and won 11 corners to the Hearts three.
Until Portland gets its attack back on track, the struggles may continue.
Gonzalez is doing just about everything he can do to help offset the goal scoring shortage. Since coming to Portland on loan from the Houston Dynamo 2, the dangerous Gonzalez has totaled six goals in only 10 games.
Listed as a midfielder, Gonzalez was one of two attacking players up on top against One Knox. He nearly scored in the first half but a diving save by goalkeeper Johan Garibay kept the shot out.
Garibay had no chance later when Gonzalez corralled a turnover at midfield, touched the ball once and then seemingly out of nowhere fired an ambitious strike that soared over the head of the goalkeeper, who had crept too far forward.
The goal tied Gonzalez with teammate Aboubacar Camara for the team lead. At this point, the Houston loaner is Portland’s most dangerous offensive player.There are not enough superlatives to describe Hunter Morse, who continues to star for Portland in goal.
The Hearts’ goalkeeper made seven saves, perhaps none tougher than two back-to-back blasts in the box from Will Perkins. Morse blocked the first (through a screen no less). The ball bounced back to Perkins who one-timed the rebound, this time from a little closer. Morse was undeterred, parrying away the shot and keeping the game scoreless.
During the winless streak, Morse has now saved an impressive 33 shots. Averaging 5.5 saves a game has played a critical role in Portland staying close in games. But it’s also an indication of a defense that is giving up far too many chances.
Former Arsenal manager George Graham had a famous saying about the importance of limiting an opponent’s chances: “The goalkeeper is the jewel in the crown and getting at him should be almost impossible. It’s the biggest sin in football to make him do any work.”
As Graham knew, lots of chances meant too many dangerous opportunities for the opponent. Morse was finally beaten with a headed goal in the 86th minute, the sixth straight game that One Knox has tallied the game-winner or game-tying goal in the last 15 minutes of a match.
It was also the 24th second half goal scored on Portland, 12 of which have come in the final 15 minutes.
These days, Morse is doing far too much work. For the season, he has 77 saves in 19 games (4 saves a game average).
What’s next:
Portland continues the season on the road, heading on Saturday to play Richmond. The Kickers (5-12-3) are in second to last place, giving the Hearts an excellent opportunity to end their winless streak.