It was an emotional night at PGE Park as it was the first game since beloved Timbers icon Timber Jim had lost his 17 year old daughter Hannah Serrill in an auto accident last week. Timber Jim attended the match along with Hannah's daughter Keiana. Pictures from the pre-game ceremony can be found by clicking the link above.

This was a match that was all about momentum, and in the first half, the Timbers would control the run of play for just about the entire 45 minutes. Four minutes in, the Timbers had their first good opportunity when an Alex Bengard free kick forced an awkward save from Mustangs goalkeeper Lutz Pfannenstiel, who fumbled the shot off his chest but was able to recover before the Timbers could find the ball. Four minutes later, Calgary's Damir Jesic found the ball at his feet inside the Timbers box, but Portland's Brian Winters was able to clear the ball off his feet with a sliding tackle that cleanly took the ball off the Calgary striker's feet.

In the 11th minute, Portland's Byron Alvarez made a deep run inside the Calgary box, but his low shot was blocked wide by Pfannenstiel. One minute later, Bengard forced another low save by the Calgary goalkeeper, this time an awkward save to the far side as Bengard had cut back and was going for the far post, but the Calgary keeper was able to get just enough of his hand on the ball to tip it wide.

Three minutes later, the visitors had an excellent chance to take an early lead when Geert Brusselers found himself open at the top of the box after a nice pass was chipped back to him, but the Calgary midfielder may have rushed the shot a bit and put it several yards over the bar. One minute later, the 16th minute, Calgary had another good chance when a pass slipped through the box Steffen Holdt, whose shot six yards off the back post was blocked wide by Portland defender Lee Morrison.

The Timbers were finding alot of success moving the ball through midfield, using Bengard and Andrew Gregor to work the ball forward, while Calgary was looking for quick counterattacks, but were finding little success as their strikers were not able to gain any numeric advantage even when the could gain possession of the long passes coming from the defense.

In the 26th minute, Portland's Jake Sagare made a cut back across the top of the box, but hit his shot from 20 yards just wide to the right. The Timbers continued to control much of the run of play for much of the next fifteen minutes, but the Mustangs were falling back more, and the Timbers were having more trouble getting the ball into the box. For this fifteen minute span, neither team had a shot on goal.

It looked like the game was going to head into halftime scoreless, but in the 40th minute, a push in the back of Timbers forward Alan Gordon by Calgary defender Angelo Sestito on a cross into the box was called by referee Yader Reyes. For only the third time in 2004 the Timbers took a shot from the spot, and for the third time Bengard did the honors, going to the keeper's left for the first time, but converting his third in three tries to give the Timbers a 1-0 lead.

Four minutes later, the Mustangs nearly leveled before halftime when a deflected shot rebounded to Holdt, but his volley from 25 yards out was a yard or so over the bar. At the half, the Timbers would hold a 1-0 lead.

Calgary would come out of the locker room a rejuvenated side, and for the first twenty minutes or so of the second half, it was all Mustangs. Three minutes into the second half, Jesic once again had the ball on his feet inside the box, but once again his shot was blocked wide before it could get to the goal. In the 52nd minute, Brusselers thought he saw Timbers goalkeeper Josh Saunders off his line and let go a shot from 45 yards out that barely went a foot or two over the bar.

In the 54th minute, Calgary's Jordan Gillespie made a nice run into the box and briefly had an open look from about 15 yards out, but mis-hit the ball and put it high and wide to the left as he attempted to go for the upper left corner. Three minutes later, the Timbers had their first good chance of the half when Gordon managed to tap the ball around a charging Pfannenstiel, but pushed it too close to the line and was on a bad angle when he attempted to curl the shot.

In the 63rd minute, Calgary got the equalizer when Jamie Auvigne made a run down the left side and dropped a nice pass to Brusselers, who put a nice shot into the upper left corner from about 8 yards out to level the score at 1-1. While the Mustangs had carried the run of play for the past twenty minutes, they seemed to respond to tying the score by dropping back to secure the draw rather than go for the win, so for the rest of the match it was one-way traffic as the Timbers were on an almost constant attack until the final whistle.

The Timbers nearly regained the lead almost immediately, when Gordon got free into the box, but Pfannenstiel managed to get enough of the shot to slow it down, and defender Aaron Richer cleared it off the goal line. For the next twenty-five minutes it would be all Timbers as they fought desperately to get the go-ahead goal.

In the 67th minute, an Alvarez pass to Bengard inside the box was blocked off the Timbers' midfielder's foot as he turned to shoot, and was deflected right to Pfannenstiel. One minute later, Gordon was once again inside the box and his shot from 12 yards out forced a kick save from the Calgary keeper.

In the 77th minute, second half Timbers substitute Scott Benedetti jumped on a ball that rebounded out to him near the top of the box, but his shot from 20 yards out was tipped just wide by the Calgary keeper. Four minutes later, Alvarez found Gordon in the box, but his attempt to turn and shoot was just wide to the left. In the 82nd minute, Pfannenstiel once again made a great kick save, this time on an Alvarez shot from 12 yards out. Two minutes later Alvarez had a good opportunity on a header off a Scot Thompson feed, but his shot from just six yards out grazed just wide of the left post.

Forward Fadi Afash came on as a Timbers substitute in the 84th minute, and his only shot on goal would come just as the clock changed over to the 90th minute, but it would be the shot that counted as he perfectly timed his header off a Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar cross, and directed the shot just inside the left post as he got to the cross just before Pfannenstiel, and flicked the shot into the net to give the Timbers a late 2-1 lead.

The Mustangs would get one more chance however, when a low corner kick into the box was kicked at by four or five different players, rebounding around wildly as each team claimed a handball on the other, but eventually the ball was cleared and the final whistle blew. With the victory, the Timbers claim the first spot in the 2004 A-League playoffs, and also win their 16th game in a season for the first time in the A-League.

Josh Saunders recorded two saves for the Timbers, while Lutz Pfannenstiel recorded eight for the Mustangs.