It was only appropriate that the hottest day of the year in Portland turned out to be the hottest night at PGE Park, and the Timbers set a new team record for goals as McKinley Tennyson scored four times in a 6-1 rout of the El Paso Patriots. Fadi Afash and Vadim Tolstolutsky had the other goals for the Timbers while Daniel Frias had the lone Patriots goal. A crowd of 4,671 endured a sweltering 96 degrees at game time on a day that saw the thermometer hit 102 degrees in Portland.

Early in the game, the match was a typical Portland-El Paso match with lots of physical play, and Patriots players ending up down on the turf. But fortunately that style of play was not the norm on the night, and both teams settled into a more attractive style of play. Just six minutes in, El Paso's Omar Mora got off a hard shot at close range that Timbers goalkeeper Matt Napoleon was able to deflect wide. In the 13th minute of play, the first good scoring chance for the Timbers resulted in a goal for the home side. Off an in-swinging corner kick from Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar, McKinley Tennyson found space in front of the net and headed a shot off El Paso goalkeeper Jesse Llamas' hands, but the ball trickled into the net, and the Timbers had a 1-0 lead.

The Patriots had another good chance one minute later when Renato Da Gama was open at the top of the box, but his hard shot was right at Napoleon. A free kick for the Patriots from nearly the same spot two minutes later was also placed directly into Napoleon's chest for the easy save.

In the 19th minute, there was a near-replay of the first Timbers goal, when once again it was Alacaraz-Cuellar on the corner kick, and once again is was right to the head of Tennyson, and his header was on target again, this time with Llama having no chance at the save, and the Timbers had a very quick 2-0 lead.

Tennyson pressures Terra Fabio as he looks to pass back

But the Patriots would pull back one before long, when in the 27th minute, after a corner kick trickled through the Portland box, El Paso's Daniel Frias got a strike on the loose ball and beat Napoleon with the hard shot, and El Paso had cut the lead in half at 2-1. In the 32nd minute, the Timbers nearly widened the lead again when Tennyson got behind the last defender, but his attempt to hit the corner was tipped wide by Llamas.

In the 39th minute, yet another cross found the head of Portland's Tennyson, this time from the foot of Greg Howes, and once again Tennyson headed past a sprawling Llamas, and just that quickly, on only three shots, Tennyson had a natural hat trick, and the Timbers had already earned their bonus point as they had a 3-1 lead.

The Timbers weren't done with their first-half scoring yet though, when Howes played a ball down the left side into the run of Fadi Afash, who cut back brilliantly across the top of the box, then hit a hard low shot that was right at Llamas, but the El Paso goalkeeper failed to control the ball, and it trickled into the net, giving the Timbers a 4-1 lead. Scott Bowerhad one last chance for the Timbers, but his shot was tipped just wide, and the teams went in for halftime with the Timbers up by three.

The second half wasn't nearly as wide open, but there was still a little more scoring left in store for the home fans. In the 51st minute, the Timbers had a three-on-two breakaway with Howes, Afash, and Tennyson attacking against a single Patriots defender and Llamas, but Howes' pass was cleared wide before it could reach a charging Tennyson, and on the ensuing corner kick, Tennyson headed over the bar. The Patriots were able to get some control of play near midfield for stretches of the second half, but were not able to put a single good attack on net during the second half.

Matt Napoleon collects the cross

The Timbers still had some attack left in them on this warm night though, and in the 70th minute, Alcaraz-Cuellar did a good job of keeping control along the end line, and he crossed to a wide-open Tennyson, who easily slotted the ball inside the right post for his fourth goal of the evening, and the Timbers had a 5-1 lead, while Alcaraz-Cuellar had recorded his third assist of the night.

The Timbers had a golden opportunity to widen the lead in the 74th minute when Howes was taken down in the box and awarded a penalty, but Greg put the penalty over the bar, and the score remained at 5-1.

Both teams substituted heavily in the 2nd half, with Portland goalkeeper Chris Smith seeing his first action of the year, but it was another second half substitute, Vadim Tolstolutsky, who put the finishing touch on the match in the 90th minute. After a cross from the left side from Keith Costigan, Chugger Adair dropped the ball back to Vadim, who connected with a mammoth blast from 25 yards that traced a straight line directly to the upper right corner of the goal and into the net, giving Vadim his first goal of the year, and giving the Timbers their highest goal output ever, a 6-1 scorching of the El Paso Patriots.

The win moved the Timbers into 2nd place in the Pacific Division, two points clear of El Paso and five points clear of Vancouver, with the Timbers having one game in hand on each team.

Tennyson sheids the ball from Sidney Dos Santos

MATCH INFO Time: Saturday, August 13, 2002. 7:05 pm PDT Venue: PGE Park, Portland, Oregon Weather: 96 degrees, clear, hot Attendance: 4,671 MATCH STATISTICS Portland El Paso 9 SHOTS 6 4 SAVES 3 13 FOULS 12 5 OFFSIDE 3 5 CORNERS 5 CAUTIONS Portland El Paso Bower (25') Shoulder charge   Mora (45') Hard tackle   Winters (37') Dissent   Cabrera (58') Hard tackle       Silva (71') Shove       Frias (80') Fouled GK

Tennyson and Dos Santos challenge for the header

STARTERS Portland (4-4-2) (Green and white stiped jersey, White shorts, White socks) McKinley Tennyson Fadi Afash (Chugger Adair 69') Scott Bower (Jake Sagare 69') (Scott Benedetti 76') Brian Winters Greg Howes (Vadim Tolstolutsky 79') Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar Keith Costigan Chris Roner Gavin Wilkinson Brent Sancho Matt Napoleon (Chris Smith 79') Bench Ben Somoza, Bryn Ritchie El Paso (3-5-2) (Blue with white and red trim, blue shorts, blue socks) Daniel Frias Omar Mora (Guillermo McFarlane 66') Eduardo Silva Alex Pinto (Pablo Barera 51') Dominic Schell Renato Da Gama Jose Abarca (Matt Stewart 62') Terra Fabid (Jose Lomeli 33') Sidney Dos Santos Carlos Martinez Jesse Llamas Bench Alfredo Estrada

Fadi Afash cuts back against Carlos Martinez....

...and then scores with this low strike

Greg Howes fights off the challenge from Alex Pinto

A crowd of players looking to control the free ball

Napoleon blocks a shot from Omar Mora early in the match

Timbers coach Bobby Howe

Timber Jim had more work than usual on this night

Keith Costigan and Vadim Tolstolutsky show off their matching platinum blonde hair