Early in the match, it was all Thunder as the visitors from Minnesota looked to establish themselves early. The Thunder put a few early shots on goal for easy saves by the Timbers keeper, but then in the 10th minute, a Thunder goal seemed imminent when a Jay Alberts breakaway into the box was blocked by a charging Josh Saunders, but the ball rebounded to a wide-open Godfrey Tenoff, whose attempt to tap into the now-open net instead was chipped across the goal mouth, and eventually was cleared by the Timbers.

The Timbers made their first shot of the match count in the 11th minute, though it was not a "shot" in a traditional sense. A Timbers free kick from about 30 yards out, angled to the keeper's left, was played into the box by Andrew Gregor, and while everyone apparently waited for someone to either knock the shot towards goal or clear it out, nobody ever actually touched the ball, and it bounced once in the box then found it's way just inside the far post past an outstretched Joe Warren, and quite unexpectedly, on their first shot of the game, the Timbers had taken a 1-0 lead.

Two minutes later, the Thunder had a great chance to equalize when a cross from Brent Jaquette found Alberts unmarked at the far post, but the Minnesota midfielder's header from 5 yards out was wide right. Three minutes later, the Thunder had another good chance when Dave Castellanos had a good look from the top of the box, but his shot was right at Saunders and easily saved.

The visiting Thunder had controlled much of the run of play in the first twenty minutes, but somewhat against the run of play, the Timbers had another good scoring chance in the 22nd minute, when a cross from the left side from Jake Sagare found Alan Gordon open just off the near post, but his header from six yards out was tipped just wide left by a nice sprawling save by Warren. In the 29th minute, the Thunder once again had a great scoring chance when a ball was headed back into the box to Marco Ferruzzi who was wide open 10 yards out from goal, but his attempt to turn on the ball was blocked wide by a collapsing Timbers defense. Ten minutes later, a shot from the top of the box from Johnny Menyongar was blocked by Saunders, who couldn't control the rebound and Castellano was able to control the ball and get around the Timbers keeper, but his rebound shot from too tight and angle was controlled by Saunders.

The Thunder had still controlled much of the run of play through the rest of the first half, and five minutes from halftime, Ferruzzi made a run deep into the Timbers box, but his shot from 15 yards out was tipped just over the bar by a charging Saunders. Off the corner kick, Saunders once again had to leap to just tip the ball over the bar.

For the last few minutes of the half, it would be the Timbers who kept the ball deep in the Thunder end of the field, and in the 43rd minute, Timbers midfielder Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar made a deep run down the right side, and though his attempt to cross was deflected by Thunder defender Freddy Juarez, it rebounded right to the top of the box, where a charging Gregor met the ball perfectly and buried it into the bottom left corner of the net, and the Timbers would have a 2-0 lead at the break.

The Thunder came out of the locker room as they had early in the first half, pressing for an early goal, and in the 48th minute, a header from close-in by Minnesota's Dustin Branan forced Saunders to leap and barely tip the ball over the net. Six minutes later, Saunders was called again to jump and tip the ball over the bar to keep a clean shot, this time on Menyongar shot from 20 yards out.

But one minute later, on a counterattack, the Gregor was able to slip in behind the Thunder defense as a header was played perfectly into his run by Byron Alvarez, and as the Thunder defense eventually closed in just at the top of the box, Gregor slipped a neat pass to a trailing Alvarez, who one-touched the ball past a charging Warren and into the net to put the Timbers up 3-0.

In the 68th minute, the Thunder had another of what seemed to be a string of breakaways, but this time the shot from Menyongar from only 10 yards out was once again blocked wide by Saunders. Two minutes later, Menyongar was once again charging into the box alone, this time to the Timbers goalkeeper's left, but once again Saunders was able to charge out and cut off the angle, once again parrying the shot wide.

Just like watching a replay over and over, it was Menyongar again into the box in the 73rd minute, with a defender attempting to mark, but this time Menyongar hit just wide left from 15 yards out.

Ten minutes from full time, a pass to Melvin Tarley had the Thunder striker in alone on Saunders, and though Saunders got a hand on the shot, it trickled right into the path of Menyongar, who was open in front of the goal only five yards out with only a single Timbers defender in front of him, but Menyongar's shot went off the left post and wide.

Menyongar had one more good chance for the Thunder, in the 85th minute when he once again had a good chance from inside the box, but his shot from 15 yards out was just over the bar this time, and though they had doubled the Timbers in shots, the Thunder never managed to find a way into the Timbers net, and Portland held on for a 3-0 win.

Josh Saunders recorded nine saves in his sixth shutout of the year, while Joe Warren had three saves in the losing effort.