The Portland Timbers had a mixed squad on Wednesday night, full of regulars, bench players, and T2 callups, and all combined in a 3-1 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup win over Orange County SC. Marvin Loría, Tyler Clegg, and Jaroslaw Niezgoda all had Timbers goals, while Milan Iloski had the lone goal for Orange County.
Both teams would have decent early chances, but solid saves by Timbers goalkeeper Hunter Sulte, and Cody Cropper for the visitors kept the game scoreless. But the Timbers would be the first to get on the scoreboard in the 34th minute when forward Jaroslaw Niezgoda played a nice pass across the top of the box to Marvin Loría, who did well to make a little space with the ball on his left foot, and then left Cropper motionless with a hard blast into the lower right corner of the net, and the Timbers had a 1-0 lead. The game would slow down a bit for the remainder of the half, and the Timbers held that lead at the break.
But one of the T2 callups would change that in the 48th minute, when Pablo Bonilla would play in a high diagonal cross, and T2 defender Tyler Clegg would make a little space between himself and the defender and rise for a nice head ball that Cropper partially stopped, but not enough to keep it out of the net, and the Timbers lead was now 2-0.
But in the 54th minute, Orange County would get on the board themselves when Milan Iloski would slip in behind the Timbers defense on a nice give-and-go pass with Thomas Amang, and then blasted his shot inside the far post past Sulte, and the Timbers lead was now 2-1.
In the 62nd minute the Timbers had an excellent chance to take the lead back up to two goals when Diego Gutiérrez chipped a nice pass to the far post whice Santiago Moreno met with a strong header, but the shot was kept out by a brilliant reaction save from Cropper that somehow kept it out of the net.
Six minutes later it would be Sulte making very good reaction saves on two shots from Orange County from close range to keep the score at 2-1.
In the 89th minute, the visitors thought they had the equalizing goal off a corner kick, but the player who headed in the final shot was offside.
Then, just into stoppage time, a hard shot from Nathan Fogaça was deflected high into the air, and Fogaça challenged the keeper as the ball was coming down again, with neither player really getting any control, but Niezgoda recovered the loose ball and finished easily from a few yards out, and this would be the final goal in the 3-1 win.
Hunter Sulte would record five saves for the Timbers, while Cody Cropper had two saves for Orange County SC.
Timbers advance past Orange County SC with a 3-1 victory | Timbers website
