Say what you will about the disappointment of the Portland Hearts of Pine’s season, but the one thing you cannot call this club is a bunch of quitters.
Following a disastrous stretch in the first half against the Spokane Velocity (14-8-5) that saw the Hearts staring at a 3-0 halftime deficit, Portland stormed back for three goals of its own, including the tying goal via penalty kick in the waning seconds of the match.
The 3-3 draw at Spokane leaves Portland (7-12-10) with three matches to play. The Hearts are in 14th place in the USL League One standings, eight points back from a playoff spot, meaning postseason play is almost certainly out of reach. But there was a lot of satisfaction to find in this one for the Hearts.
Let’s take a look at the match.
After playing tight defense for much of the first half, Portland surrendered three goals in that calamitous 10-minute stretch that put the Hearts in a horrendous position going into the break.
All three scores were representative of the defensive lapses that have plagued Portland for much of the season. The one difference was they all occurred in the first half, which is notable because going into the match, the Hearts had conceded 34 of their 50 goals in the second half this season.
The first goal was a beautiful set of give-and-go touch passes in the box that resulted in Spokane midfielder Nil Vinyals (yes, him again) scoring in the 38th minute. The second – just one minute later – looked similar with another deft touch in the box leading to a one-timer strike from forward Neco Brett. And the third, scored at 45’+3’, was the most problematic of the three as a Spokane attacker made a tantalizingly slow pass diagonally through the box before Spokane midfielder Andre Lewis struck a laser into the upper right corner past a helpless Hunter Morse, the Hearts’ goalkeeper.
The string of goals was also exactly what Portland coach Bobby Murphy had urged his players not to allow in the days leading up to the game. Murphy had said, “You’ll get a chance to score no matter who you play – just don’t be down 2-0 when you get that chance.”
In this case, the Hearts were down 3-0 and seemed to be heading toward a depressing result.
Not much changed for 19 minutes. Portland remained goalless despite a strong opportunity from Jay Tee Kamara, who ripped a one-timer from the top of the box that Spokane goalkeeper Carlos Merancio punched away to the side.
Portland’s Jay Tee Kamara dribbles past Spokane Velocity defenders during Saturday’s road match. Photo courtesy of the Portland Hearts of Pine.
Moments after the television announcer said, “The sun is setting on this match,” the Hearts strung together a series of short passes (something Portland did throughout the match, outpossessing Spokane 56%-44% while completing 459 passes to the Velocity’s 332). Suddenly, midfielder Matteo Kidd was running free down the right side. He passed into the center of the box, and forward Felipe Rodriguez Gentile found a hole in the defense, burying a one-timer past Merancio in the 64th minute.
Portland struck again in the 73rd minute when forward Aboubacar Camara, who had subbed into the game only a few moments earlier, snagged a bad pass before turning and attacking the goal. As two defenders closed on him, Camara fired a low shot into the back of the net.
The Hearts kept pressing and earned a corner kick that was nearly headed in for the tie. But Merancio parried it away, and as Diogo Barbosa was corralling the bounding ball, he was taken out in the box by a reckless tackle from a Spokane defender.
The referee immediately signaled for a penalty. With only a few seconds left, Diego Gonzalez stood over the ball and, just as he did in early September, slotted his shot to the right of the goalkeeper. The referee blew his whistle immediately after, and the comeback was complete.
It’s become clear that Portland-Spokane is now must-see TV as the cross-country clubs have blossomed into one of USL1’s most dramatic, high-scoring fixtures.
Portland joined the league in 2025, while Spokane did so in 2024. The clubs have already had five matches highlighted by a blowout, a late-game goal for a victory, two regular-season draws, and a thrilling playoff shootout.
The clubs’ first match in 2025 failed to foreshadow what was to come later as they played to a 0-0 tie in Spokane. Late that season, Portland put on a goal-scoring clinic in a 6-1 victory. The clubs met a month later in the playoffs and headed to extra time all tied up. Kamara scored early on to give the Hearts a lead, but Vinyals scored late in the match (see video above) to send it to penalty kicks, which Spokane won 6-5 to advance to the championship game. In the fourth match, Kamara again scored a late goal that Portland held onto this time.
And now with a fifth game that saw Portland mount an epic comeback, it feels like there’s a true rivalry brewing between these two clubs.