The Timbers did have the first threatening run into the box of the match when midfielder Jake Sagare, newly returned from a stint at Grimsby Town, made a perfect run on a give-and-go with McKinley Tennyson, but Sagare's shot from 10 yards out was blocked over the endline by the Thunder defense. In the 8th minute, Zafer Kilickan nearly gave the Thunder an early lead on a shot from 15 yards out that looked liked it was going to go into the roof of the goal, but a brilliant tip-save by Curtis Spiteri kept the game scoreless. Later in the 8th minute, then again in the 11th minute, shots by Kilickan rebounded off his own teammates before reaching the goal. Later in the 11th minute, a dangerous cross into the Timbers box bounced around for a few seconds before finally being cleared by the Timbers.

In the 13th minute, Thunder forward Johnny Torres got behind the Timbers defense, making a diagonal run towards the corner of the box, but his shot from 30 yards out was right at Spiteri. Four minutes later, it was the Timbers who had the ball deep into their opponent's box, but Manuel Brasil was challenged off the ball by a fair shoulder charge by a Thunder defender.

The Timbers had their best scoring chance of the first half in the 23rd minute, when off a corner kick, defender Bryn Ritchie rose high and headed the ball across the goal mouth toward a wide-open Dan Antoniuk, but the ball was just beyond the reach of Antoniuk as he attempted to tap it into the open net, and the ball bounced harmlessly over the endline.

In the 31st minute, the Thunder had numbers as they attacked down the right side, and a cross from Marshall Morehead diagonally towards the far side of the box found a wide open Marco Ferruzzi, who calmly trapped the ball, and then buried a shot inside the left post to put the Thunder up 1-0.

Nine minutes later, the Thunder took advantage of another breakdown in the Timbers defense when Morehead jumped on an open ball in the box, and tapped it to Torres, who calmly buried the shot to put the Thunder up 2-0. One minute later, a seemingly innocent Thunder shot from thirty yards out nearly turned into another goal as Spiteri let the ball bounce though his arms and was barely able to pounce on the ball as it trickled towards the net. The Thunder went into the locker room at halftime in control of the flow of play, and protecting a 2-0 lead.

Five minutes into the second half, the Thunder appeared ready to widen the lead when Torres turned on a ball and shot on goal from only 5 yards out, but a reaction save by Spiteri kept the ball out of the Timbers net. In the 64th minute, the Timbers lost Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar, who was red-carded for kicking a Thunder player while he was on the ground, though it appeared equally possible that he had been going after the ball. But he did make contact with the Thunder player while he was on the ground, and was immediately ejected.

In the 66th minute, the Timbers had their first official shot on goal when Tennyson put a shot a few yards over the Thunder net from 10 yards out. In the 71st minute, the Thunder were threatening again when a Hugo Llamas header off a corner kick forced another reaction save from Spiteri.

In the 75th minute, Thunder second-half substitute Johnny Menyongar made a quick impression on the game when he took a shot from 40 yards out that started to dip and curve and only went a yard or two over the Timbers net. But one minute later, Menyongar would not miss, as he pounced on a low Kilickan cross that somehow found it's way through three Timbers defenders, and was easily finished into a nearly open net by the Thunder striker to put the visiting side up 3-0.

On the ensuing restart, the Timbers attempted to steal a goal away from the Thunder when instead of tapping the ball forward, Tennyson attempted a shot from midfield (55 yards from goal) that nearly curled inside the left post past a shocked Joe Warren, but Warren saw the shot at the last minute and barely tipped it wide.

Over the final ten minutes of the match, the Timbers goalkeeper had to defend against a flurry of Thunder shots: two by Menyongar and two by Kilickan in order to keep the score somewhat respectable. But in the end, the Thunder domination of the match had been complete, and the Thunder return to the Twin Cities after a convincing 3-0 win.