Kitsap Pumas retake first place from Portland on Friesen's free kick; Tacoma Tide draw in Vancouver

The Kitsap Pumas and Portland Timbers U-23's played each other for the first time Saturday night at Memorial Stadium in Bremerton and the Pumas came out 1-0 winners on a well-taken free kick from midfielder Matt Friesen.

The victory for Kitsap gives them 17 points and puts them one point ahead of the Timbers in the PDL Northwest Division race. Next up for Kitsap is the 'parent club' of the U-23's, the USL-1 Portland Timbers on Tuesday in the United States Open Cup.

“That's a big, big victory,” goalkeeper Dustyn Brim said. “That's probably the best side we've played so far, and to come out on top is great. We were battling the whole time.”

Kitsap came out aggressively and created plenty of scoring chances in the first half, but couldn't finish or had the ball cleared by the Portland defense. Most notable was Tony Kerr's near miss on a shot after Timbers goalkeeper Austin Guerrero came out of the box to grab the ball.

Kerr later made a great tap pass to Mark Conrad but his shot went high.

Portland's Daniel Leach (all white) stops Kitsap's Spencer Schomaker by grabbing his jersey just before this photo was taken. Leach was ejected with a red card and the Pumas were awarded a direct free kick.

See a full match gallery by Jenni Conner at GOALKitsap.com

See a few photos by me also at GOALKitsap.com

The Pumas got a huge break when Spencer Schomaker was dragged down by the back of his jersey by Portland defender Daniel Leach just outside the penalty box in the 23rd minute. Leach was booked for a red card and ejected. Leach was ruled to have been the last defender between Schomaker and the goal.

Matt Friesen took the direct free kick and was dead on with his shot, curving it over the Portland wall and past Guerrero for the match's only score. Friesen celebrated by acting as a DJ with his teammates acting as rappers. The celebration stems from a inside joke that started at training camp. “We were sitting around sharing stuff about ourselves and one guy said he could freestyle,” he said. “It was funny that while he was rapping (head coach) John Wedge was waiving his hands in the air. So we said whoever scored tonight gets to be the DJ while everyone else does the John Wedge,” Friesen continued.

Matt Friesen (second from left) converts the direct free kick in the 24th minute and the Pumas hang on for the 1-0 win.

Meanwhile in the bleachers behind the goal a throng of young fans with pots and pans and painted chests danced up and down celebrating the strike. While the usual college-age support for Kitsap were mostly absent on the night, an even bigger group of young supporters showed up and made a constant racket behind the Portland goal the entire evening.

In the second half, Portland came out more aggressive and began creating more chances despite playing down a man.

Kitsap's Brim and the defense of Max Lipset, Mark Lee, Stephen Mohn and Taylor Hyde did its part to deny the high scoring Timbers any real chances at a tying goal.

The closest Portland came was when a Timbers player was fouled just outside the penalty box in the 74th minute. Avneet Shergill took the direct free kick, but put it wide left.

The Pumas have a 'bring a noise maker and get a free second ticket' promotion.

Brim collected his third shutout of the year and has allowed just two goals in 450 minutes of play – but he won't take all the credit. “The guys in front of me are amazing,” Brim said. “What a lot of people don't get to see is the foot skills our back line possesses. It's top notch.  “But our front guys up top did a heckuva job working their tails off for us,” Brim continued. “As a team effort I think we did a top-notch job tonight.”

The free kick was the closest Portland got in a choppy second half where the referee constantly blew his whistle to give 32 fouls and hand out five yellow cards in addition to the red card. “It wasn't that rough of a game,” Friesen said. "He should've let us play a little bit."

KITSAP SUN: Pumas topple Timbers

After the match players and fans mingled on the Memorial Stadium grass and exchanged congratulations. The night was at times windy and overcast, but it never rained. The crowd was announced at 715. The Pumas are averaging 1067 fans per match after three home dates.

With the win, Kitsap heads into its first-ever U.S. Open Cup match with the USL Division I Portland Timbers at home this Tuesday with some confidence.

“They're probably going to come in and say, 'Oh these guys aren't much,'” said Friesen, a native of Newburg, Ore. “So we might have a psychological advantage because we're going to be really up for it and they're coming in thinking they're going to roll over us.”

Game time is at 7 p.m. Tickets are still available through Brown Paper Bag tickets and the Pumas front office.

The Kitsap Pumas contributed to this report.

Tacoma Tide FC get road draw, but see lost points in near misses

Report from TacomaTideSports.com: The Tacoma Tide are in a tight race for Northwest Division supremacy. Before Saturday night, the Tide had 8 points from 5 games and were within striking distance of the top NW spot. The back to back games in Canada resembled important points as the season nears the midway point.

In soccer, there are many types of results. Even a tie can be dissected and categorized into numerous different forms. There is such a thing as a good tie or a bad tie. The Tide's 1-1 draw against Vancouver on Saturday would be nearer to the latter. Tacoma had a great chance for 3 points and walked away with just 1.

General Manager and assistant coach, Mike Jennings, said the game was, “Another one of those games we feel we should have gotten more points than we came away with.” The comment can be best understood when the story of the match is told. The Tide went down early. The Whitecaps played a good first half hour and pressured the Tide well. The high intensity resulted in a 20th minute goal for the home team. However, the 2nd half was an entirely different story. The Tide came roaring back with a nice goal from Coach/player, Greg Howes. The former pro cut the ball back nicely and converted on a Leighton O'Brien assist.

The Tide momentum was added to when O'Brien's tussle with Vancouver's Alex Semenets resulted in an elbow from Semenets. The Whitecap was given a red card for the elbow and the Tide found themselves with a great opportunity for the win. With 23 minutes remaining in the match, there was plenty of time for the Tide to make good on their advantage. However, despite 2 clear cut one-on-one opportunities, the Tide were unable to score the go-ahead goal and so they shared the points with Vancouver.

The draw gives the Tide a 2-1-3 record for 9 points. Vancouver has only played 4 games, and they have 5 points.  The Tide return to the pitch Sunday afternoon at 5pm in Victoria vs the Victoria Highlanders. The newcomers to the PDL have 6 points from 6 games.

In other PDL action the Cascade Surge hammered the Spokane Spiders 5-1.

Seattle Wolves FC host the Yakima Reds today at 3:00 PM at Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila.