McKinley Tennyson scored the winning goal in overtime off a pass from Scott Benedetti, which made for a dramatic end to an emotional night at PGE Park as the Timbers defeated the Vancouver Whitecaps by a 2-1 score in front of a crowd of 5,471. Byron Alvarez had the first Timbers goal, while Oliver Heald had the lone Whitecaps tally.

A very touching moment for the Timbers supporters came after the player introductions as the Timbers players acknowledged the passing of longtime Timbers fan Paula Currier by going into the crowd and putting a rose at her seat. Gavin Wilkinson led the way for the Timbers and gave a single rose to her sister Giselle, which was placed on the empty seat. The players that followed each placed a rose on the memorial that had collected behind Paula's chair.

The Timbers were controlling play right from the start, and after a few early chances on crosses into the box, it only took nine minutes before the Timbers put a score on the board. A deflected ball bounded into the box and it was down to a footrace between Portland’s Byron Alvarez and Vancouver goalkeeper Mike Franks. It was Alvarez who reached the ball first, getting just enough of his foot on the ball to chip it softly over the keeper and into the net for a 1-0 lead.

The Whitecaps came up with a few good chances ten minutes later, with Alfredo Valente having a ball rebound off Steve Kindel to his feet, but his shot was right at Timbers goalkeeper Curtis Spiteri. Five minutes later, a long ball from Nick Dasovic nearly dropped to the feet of Vancouver striker Jason Jordan at the top of the box, but the Whitecaps forward was just a step short of getting to the ball, which was collected easily by Spiteri.

In the 27th minute, the Timbers appeared ready to widen their lead when McKinley Tennyson made a perfect run to get through behind the Vancouver offside trap, but Tennyson’s first touch after receiving the pass was too far ahead, and Franks smothered the ball before the Timbers striker could get off a shot. In the 33rd minute, Alvarez had the ball on his feet at the top of the Whitecaps box, but lost control as he turned and the ball was easily cleared.

In the 34th minute, a dangerous cross into the box from Paul Dailly found the head of Vancouver’s Jeff Clarke, but his shot towards the far post did not have much on it, and Spiteri was able to scramble over and cover the ball. One minute later, The Timbers were on the attack again when a cross from Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar found the head of Tennyson, but his shot was wide left.

The Timbers had two golden opportunities to widen their lead in the 37th and 40th minute when Tennyson was able to slip behind the Vancouver defense, but both times, Tennyson was unable to score. The first attempt was an easy save for the Whitecaps keeper, but the second required Franks to reach back for a kick save that was just enough to stop the scoring chance. The Whitecaps had two good chances just before the end of the half, with Clarke putting a ball into the side netting in the 43rd minute, and Niall Thompson putting a header wide. But the Timbers held onto the 1-0 lead at the half.

At the start of the 2nd half, the Whitecaps came out firing, and nearly leveled the score in the first minute of the half. Thompson had a ball bounce right in front of him after a deflection off a cross, but his attempt to half volley it went barely a foot over the bar. Five minutes later, after a Whitecaps free kick, Nico Craveiro had a chance to put the rebound on net, but his header was wide right. In the 53rd minute, a Timbers mistake nearly cost them a goal, as Jordan managed to block an attempted clearance by Timbers defender Lee Morrison, but Jordan’s shot on goal from an extreme angle left was right at the Timbers keeper. Six minutes later, Jordan was threatening again as he got off a shot from the top of the box that deflected off a Timbers defender, but Spiteri was still able to make the save.

In the 60th minute, the Whitecaps finally got their equalizer when Spiteri was unable to control the ball off a Vancouver corner kick, and the ball came back out to Oliver Heald at the top of the six yard box, who volleyed the ball into the right side of the Timbers net to quiet the Timbers crowd and level the score at 1-1.

Each team had good chances over the next 30 minutes, but none seriously threatened to be the game-winner, and the match would go into golden goal overtime.

In the 5th minute of overtime, on the first good chance that either team had, the Timbers would get the game winner when Dan Antoniuk’s header was knocked down by Scott Benedetti as he ran into the box, and it fell to the foot of Tennyson, who knocked a hard shot into the right side of the net past a sprawling Franks, and the Timbers had their third win in the last four matches, and are now within two games of the .500 mark at 5-7.

This one was for Paula...