There are so many interesting stories when it comes to the Portland Hearts of Pine. But it’s important to remember that there are 16 other teams in the league, each with their own narrative that helps explain how their season has gone.
Every Tuesday, The Hearts’ Beat will pull together a roundup of the most interesting stories from around the league. Some may have a connection to the Hearts; others will just be stories readers should know.
So let’s take a look:
This week’s USL1 power rankings are out and don’t look so kindly on Portland, which is ranked last in 17th place.
For the Hearts, the team summary states: “Hunter Morse leads the league with 82 saves and has a solid -2.63 Goals Prevented mark, making you wonder where Hearts of Pine would be with an average goalkeeper.”
Fortunately, the Hearts don’t have to worry about that. Morse has been a stalwart in goal, and has certainly kept Portland in many games with his stellar play. During the team’s seven-game winless streak, Morse has racked up 39 saves while conceding 13 goals.
The power rankings didn’t see a change in the top four, with Union Omaha, the Charlotte Independence, Athletic Club Boise, and Forward Madison FC remaining in their same spot as a week ago.
The biggest change is the New York Cosmos, who despite being the cellar dwellers in points, was ranked eighth. The Cosmos’ summary stated: “The Cosmos’ underlying numbers said they weren’t as bad as their record. Seven points from their last three games shows the potential this side continues to have.”
The actual standings tell a similar story for the Hearts. Portland technically sits in 13th place but ultimately is tied in points with two other clubs whose point total puts them at 23 points. That puts the Hearts nine points off the final spot in the playoffs (both the Chattanooga Red Wolves and AV Alta FC have 32 points, making them seventh and eighth respectively).
The Red Wolves and Alta are both struggling. Chattanooga is 1-3-1 in its last five games, including most recently a 3-3 draw vs. the New York Cosmos. AV Alta is 1-4-0 (unfortunately there is no game story for this match).
From a Portland perspective, the results are frustrating because there’s been ample opportunity to chase these teams down and make a run at the playoffs. But the Hearts have failed to garner a win in their last seven games, putting Portland in a perilous spot to miss the playoffs for the first time in its short history.
The USL1 Golden Boot award continues to be led by a former Cameroon international: “The Charlotte Independence’s Souaibou Marou retained the lead in the USL League One Golden Boot race on Saturday with his 11th goal in the regular season in Charlotte’s 3-1 win against Sarasota Paradise. The goal marked Marou’s 20th regular season goal in League One, the 29th player to reach the mark in the league, and moved him into a tie with Tresor Mbuyu for the most regular season goals for the Independence in its League One era.”
In that same article, it discusses how Sarasota Paradise forward Emiliano Terzaghi is far and away the greatest scorer in the history of the USL1. Terzaghi recently notched an assist in that 3-1 loss vs. Charlotte, making him the league’s first player to record 70 regular season goal contributions in his career.
The article states: “The three-time League One Player of the Year has recorded a league-record 63 regular season goals so far in his career, with his assist against Charlotte just his seventh helper. He is now 20 goal contributions ahead of Christian Chaney, currently the lone other player to have recorded at least 50 goal contributions in the league.”
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Good stuff, man.
There is no bias, of course, from a man who played a lot of keeper in his career. ^^