The Portland Timbers faced expansion team St. Louis City on Saturday night at Providence Park. And though the Timbers once again had an early lead, as they did two weeks ago against Sporting Kansas City, but they could not hold the lead and fell 2-1. Zac McGraw would have the goal for the Timbers, while Jared Stroud and Kyle Hiebert would score for the visitors.
In just the 3rd minute, the Timbers would jump out to an early lead when a corner kick from Eryk Williamson found the head of Timbers defender Zac McGraw , and his header would slip just inside the right post, and right out of the gate, the Timbers had a 1-0 lead.
But the Timbers could not hold that lead to the break, when in first half stoppage time, midfielder Jared Stroud got a good strike on a loose ball in the Timbers box, which eluded defender David Bingham, and the score was 1-1 at the break.
After the Timbers failed to take advantage of several good second half chances, St. Louis City would make them pay in the 74th minute when Kyle Hiebert headed in a free kick to put St. Louis in the lead by a 2-1 score. The Timbers would have good chances to tie in the closing minutes, but never found the goal, and the visitors would emerge with the 2-1 win.
David Bingham would record four saves for the Timbers, while Roman Bürki would record two for the St. Louis.
