The Timbers had a different look to their lineup, with Lee Morrison at left defender, Jake Sagare at inside left midfield, and Aaron Heinzen at left midfield. The experience Sagare and Heinzen had playing together at the University of Washington helped them to work well together, and in the 2nd minute, a pass from Heinzen sprung Sagare on a run to the top of the box, but his shot was a few yards over the bar from 25 yards out. Three minutes later, Timbers striker McKinley Tennyson had his own run into the top of the box, but he stumbled as he hit his shot which was smothered by Whitecaps goalkeeper Alex Marques.

At about this time, the power at PGE Park went out after a car had hit a nearby utility pole, and the only lights still working were the emergency lights. But there was still plenty of light to play by, and play continued. A few minutes later, Tennyson went down with a knee injury, and would leave the game about fifteen minutes later. But before that would happen, the Timbers would have two more good chances, as Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar's flick-on header from the top of the box was right at the Whitecaps keeper, and a few minutes later, Sagare was on the attack again, taking a shot from outside the box that went well wide to the right.

The Timbers were continuing to control much of the run of play, and had a few dangerous looking through balls into the box that were just too far for a striker to run onto them. In the 29th minute, striker Byron Alvarez (who had been substituted in for Tennyson), had the ball at his feet inside the box, but his attempt to turn and shoot was partially blocked by Whitecaps defender Jeff Skinner.

In the 37th minute, the Timbers had a good opportunity with a free kick from just outside the Vancouver 18-yard box, but Fadi Afash's shot was a yard or two over the bar. The Whitecaps had their first look at goal in the 43rd minute when midfielder Gordon Chin was open briefly 30 yards out from goal as he made a run, but this shot was a good 5 yards over the crossbar. A minute later, the Whitecaps had a through ball that forced Portland goalkeeper Curtis Spiteri to leave his box, and the Portland keeper got to the ball just a step or two ahead of Whitecaps midfielder Steve Kindel to clear the ball out of bounds. The half ended scoreless, with the Timbers having outshot the Whitecaps 5-0 in the first half.

In the second half, the Whitecaps seemed to be carrying more of the run of play, and were pushing the ball deeper into the Timbers half of the field than they had during the first half. In the 52nd minute, Kindel got to a loose ball and hit a powerful shot from 25 yards out that curved well wide to the right. In the 63rd minute, the Whitecaps had a golden opportunity with a free kick 20 yards out, angled to the goalkeeper's right, but the ensuing free kick by Paul Dailly was well over the bar. A minute later, another dangerous through ball forced Spiteri to dive on the loose ball. And after a defensive mistake on the clearance, Dailly was briefly all alone 25 yards from goal, but as he looked for help the Timbers defense collapse, and the resulting shot from Chin was wide to the right.

In the 68th minute, the Timbers came within inches of taking the lead when Alvarez made a run deep into the box, and his low shot got past the Whitecaps keeper, but hit off the left post, and an attempted rebound shot at an extreme angle by Sagare was into the left side netting.

But in the 75th minute, Alvarez would find a different part of the round posts, and the few inches would make a world of difference. After Afash's shot from 15 yards out was stopped by a reaction save from the Whitecaps keeper, Afash recovered the ball and crossed from the right side to Alvarez, who leaned back and away from the Vancouver mark, and headed a perfect shot from 6 yards out that hit off the underside of the crossbar and into the net to give the Timbers a 1-0 lead.

In the 83rd minute, the Timbers had two more good chances, with a shot from Alcaraz going juts over the bar, and a shot from Sagare from well outside the box forcing Marques to tip the shot just wide. Over the next few minutes, the Whitecaps managed to get several dangerous crosses into the box, but Spiteri was able to control every one of them. In the 88th minute, Alvarez was open in the box once again, and his shot from only a few yards out from goal was blocked wide left by a Whitecaps defender.

In the 89th minute, the Whitecaps had perhaps their best scoring opportunity of the night when a chip into the run of 2nd half substitute Dave Morris had the Whitecaps midfielder charging towards the corner of the 6-yard box. Morris got to the ball just before a charging Spiteri, but his attempt to chip the ball over Spiteri hit off the Portland keeper's face, and the players then collided in the box from their momentum, and the loose ball was cleared by Portland defender Jake Vaughn. It was the last scoring opportunity for either team, and the Timbers held on for their biggest win of the 2003 season so far, a 1-0 victory over the previously undefeated Whitecaps. Spiteri's save in the 89th minute was his only save on the night, while Marques had four saves on the night.