Portland Timbers (1985–1990)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Portland Timbers (disambiguation).
Portland Timbers
Civic Stadium
Portland, Oregon
LeagueWestern Soccer Alliance / American Professional Soccer League

Portland Timbers, previously known as F.C. Portland, came into existence in 1985 as an independent U.S. soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. In 1989, the team adopted the name Portland Timbers. Portland was composed of both professional and amateur players. The amateur players largely came from local Portland amateur leagues. It played its games in Portland's Civic Stadium.

History

1985 – Western Alliance Challenge Series

In 1985, F.C. Portland joined with three other independent clubs, the U.S. based

Western Alliance Challenge Series. The four teams also played the Canadian Edmonton Brick Men and the Canada national team
. The games against the Brick Men counted in the standings which determined the end of series champions.

F.C. Portland had the honor of hosting the first game of the series, against Seattle. The game, played in Portland's Civic Stadium, attracted 2,906 fans.

F.C. Portland also played a game against the

Houston Dynamos in Houston
.

1986 – Western Soccer Alliance

After the success of 1985, the three U.S. teams elected to form a league, which they named the Western Soccer Alliance. While the Victoria Riptides opted out of the league, the

Dundee FC
this year) with results counting in the alliance standings.

F.C. Portland saw a significant improvement over the previous season. Behind the production of forwards

Warner Pacific College
, a local school. He played with F.C. Portland as an amateur.

In 1986, former Timbers player Clive Charles began coaching the University of Portland (U.P.) men's soccer team, bringing this team to national prominence. This led to an infusion of U.P. players into F.C. Portland in later years.

1987 – Brent Goulet MVP

In 1987, Edmonton dropped from the alliance to join the

San Diego Nomads
.

At the end of the season, the team lost Goulet when he finished his four years at

Warner Pacific College and signed with British club AFC Bournemouth
.

1988

This year saw F.C. Portland drop to the bottom of the end of year standings despite once again having the alliance's leading scorer,

Vancouver 86ers
. F.C. Portland finished 1-11.

This year the alliance named an

All Star
team.

1989 – New name: Portland Timbers

In 1989, F.C. Portland went through several changes. First, Art Dixon, a local businessman, took control of F.C. Portland and renamed it the Portland Timbers. Dixon was a long time Timbers fan, holding season tickets from 1979 through the team's last season in 1982. Dixon brought more than a name change, he also injected money and a higher level of professionalism into the team, bringing former Timbers great

John Bain back as a player/coach. Then, the Western Soccer Alliance became the Western Soccer League (WSL). More importantly for Portland, the WSL added three new teams, Real Santa Barbara, Arizona Condors and Sacramento Senators. To accommodate the new teams, the Western Soccer League split into two divisions – North and South. The Portland Timbers joined the San Jose Earthquakes now known as the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks, the F.C. Seattle now known as the Seattle Storm and the new Sacramento Senators
in the North Division.

Portland made yet another wild swing in the standings from the previous season. Improving from 1-11, Portland finished the year at 11-5 and tied with the Blackhawks for the North Division lead. The Blackhawks won the division championship, and the playoff berth, based on goal differential.

The team continued its tradition of placing its players on the end of year honors lists. Goalkeeper

NCAA soccer with the University of Portland
.

1990 – The final season

In February 1990, the WSL announced it had reached a merger agreement with the American Soccer League, which had teams along the east coast. The new league was named the American Professional Soccer League. The APSL was split into East and West Conferences, both with North and South Divisions. The Portland Timbers remained in the North Division, which also had the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks, Seattle Storm and newly established Salt Lake Sting and Colorado Foxes.

This year, Portland's final, the team finished with a 10-10 record and out of playoff contention. This was also the first year the team failed to garner any individual player honors. Its leading goal scorer, Shawn Medved with 10 goals and 2 assists, was seventh on the league's scoring list. Kasey Keller had also moved on after playing in the 1990 FIFA World Cup and then signing with British club Millwall and Scott Benedetti had transferred to Seattle.

At the end of the season, the high hopes which had come with the merger between the WSL and APSL crashed. Over half of the teams from the 1990 season, including Portland, would not return for the 1991 season. Team owner Art Dixon folded the team, having lost more than $500,000 over the two years he owned the team.

Coaches

League honors

MVP

Leading scorer

Top Goalkeeper

First Team All Star

Record

Main article: List of Portland Timbers seasons

This is a complete list of seasons for the WSL/APSL club.[1][2] For a season-by-season history including the currentPortland Timbers MLS franchise, see List of Portland Timbers seasons.

Season League Position Playoffs USOC Continental Average attendance Top goalscorer(s)
Div League Pld W L D GF GA GD Pts PPG Conf. Overall Name Goals
1985 3 WACS 7 1 4 2 8 16 −8 5 0.71 N/A 4th − DNE Ineligible − N/A N/A
1986 WSA 14 6 6 2 19 22 −3 20 1.43 3rd − United States Brent Goulet 9
1987 WSA 10 5 5 0 9 15 –6 15 1.50 4th DNQ − 3 players tied 2
1988 WSA 12 1 11 0 16 32 –16 3 0.25 6th – United States Scott Benedetti 8
1989 2 WSL 16 11 5 0 32 25 +7 33 2.06 2nd 3rd SF – United States Scott Benedetti 8
1990 APSL 20 10 10 0 42 36 +6 30 1.50 4th 8th DNQ – United States Shawn Medved 10
Total – – 79 34 41 4 126 146 –20 106 1.34 – – – – — – United States Scott Benedetti 18

^ 1. Avg. attendance include statistics from league matches only.

CONCACAF Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup
, and other competitive continental matches.
^ 3. Points and PPG have been adjusted from non-traditional to traditional scoring systems for seasons after 1986 to more effectively compare historical team performance across seasons.

All-time player roster

Goalkeepers

Defenders

  • Paul Henningsen: 1985–1986
  • Mike dePinna: 1985–1990
  • Tim Newton: 1985–1986
  • Jim Riley: 1985-1986
  • Grant Gibbs: 1985–1987
  • Tohru Yamada: 1985, 1987–1989
  • Grant Rowe: 1986–1987
  • Wade Webber: 1986–1987, 1989
  • Eric Phillipi: 1986–1990
  • Gary Osterhage: 1987
  • Blake Pavlich: 1987
  • Garrett Smith: 1987–1989
  • John Ballew: 1988
  • Peter Cochran: 1988
  • Chuck Codd: 1988
  • Roger Gantz: 1988
  • Jerome LaChance: 1988
  • Trent Schultz: 1988
  • Steve Ancheta: 1988–1989
  • Jeff Brooks: 1989
  • Trent Schultz: 1989
  • Sam Singer: 1989
  • Billy Crook: 1990
  • Daryl Green: 1990
  • Ian MacLean: 1990
  • Bernd Strom: 1990

Midfielders

  • Mike Iverzic: 1985
  • Eric Knapp: 1985
  • Ken Coplin: 1985–1986
  • Dan House: 1985–1987
  • Ezam Bayan: 1986–1988
  • Joe Halloway: 1986–1988, 1990
  • Steve Piercy: 1986–1987, 1990
  • Robb Sakamoto: 1987–1988
  • Horner Screws: 1987–1988
  • Jim Weber: 1987, 1989
  • Joey Leonetti: 1988
  • Ignacio Baez: 1988–1989
  • Dick McCormick: 1988–1990
  • Souk Ngonethong: 1988–1990
  • Paul Conway: 1989
  • Neftali Gomez: 1989
  • Doug Van de Brake: 1989
  • John Bain
    : 1989–1990
  • Tim Bartro: 1990
  • Peter Hattrup: 1990
  • Brian McManus: 1990
  • Quinn Ross: 1990

Forwards

  • Ronston Haylock: 1985
  • Mark Miller: 1985–1986
  • Jeff Fenske: 1985–1986, 1989
  • Jess Guthrie: 1986
  • Tony Hicker: 1985–1987
  • Scott Benedetti: 1986–1989 [5]
  • Brent Goulet: 1986–1987
  • Mark Bioklund: 1987
  • Jeff Enquist: 1987, 1990
  • Jason Russ: 1987–1988
  • Brian Bacon: 1988
  • Clay Elrod: 1988
  • Michael Macchione: 1988
  • David Magistrale: 1988
  • Rob Baarts: 1989
  • Paul Goldsbrough: 1989
  • Robert Lang: 1989
  • Ron Skov: 1989
  • Shawn Medved: 1990
  • Rob Paterson: 1990

References

  1. ^ "Western Soccer League/Alliance". Archived from the original on 2016-01-04. Retrieved 2011-01-18.
  2. ^ http://www.soccercityusa.com/timbers/teamhistory.html
  3. ^ "WSA 1988 Seasons".
  4. ^ http://www.portlandmls2011.com/news/2010/11/mls-timbers-kasey-keller
  5. ^ "WSA 1988 Seasons".
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