For the first time in its brief history, the Portland Hearts of Pine will not be in the USL League One playoffs.
Portland was eliminated from playoff contention late Wednesday night when Fort Wayne FC went on the road and defeated Corpus Christi FC 3-1. The victory put Fort Wayne, which is in eighth place and holds the final playoff spot, at 42 points. The Hearts have 31 points and only three games remaining, which means the most Portland can finish with is 40 points.
The Hearts will lament the seven games in which they gave up goals in stoppage time this season, turning wins into draws and draws into losses. Losing on the road at the Charlotte Independence might hurt the most as Portland gave up two goals in the final three minutes of stoppage time. At the time, Charlotte was in first place but has since dropped to second overall.
In its inaugural season last year, Portland finished seventh overall before making a deep playoff run that ended in the semifinals with a loss on penalty kicks to the Spokane Velocity.
Portland’s three remaining games are at home Saturday vs. Athletic Club Boise, at Forward Madison FC and then closing out the season at home against Charlotte. All three opponents are currently in playoff position. As one reader wrote to The Hearts’ Beat, “Let’s spoil some people’s seasons now.” The best chance of that is likely against Charlotte, which is in a tight battle with Union Omaha for the Players’ Shield as the top regular-season team in the league.