Hearts Held to Scoreless Draw by Richmond
Published on August 9, 2025 under United Soccer League One (USL1)
Portland Hearts of Pine News Release
PORTLAND, Maine - Portland Hearts of Pine (4-4-9) controlled the ball for 70 percent of the match and near doubled Richmond Kickers (4-9-5) in shots, 12-7, but ultimately came away frustrated, held to a scoreless draw in front of 5,796 fans at Fitzpatrick Stadium on Saturday night.
After a defensive first 45 minutes, the match slowly came alive in the second half. In the 69th minute, Richmond's Ryan Baer launched a shot goalward from long range. A crowd of bodies in front of the Portland goal prevented Hunter Morse from seeing the ball until the last minute, but the Hearts goalkeeper rose to the occasion-literally-and made an outstanding reflex save to parry the ball over the crossbar.
The save was one of three Morse made on the night, as the goalkeeper turned in a performance that would have made Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman-watching on from the sideline seats-proud.
As the clock ticked closer to 90 minutes, Portland strung together the two best chances of the game, only to come up agonizingly short each time.
In the 88th minute, the Ollie Wright-to-Nathan Messer combination that has troubled opponents all season long almost paid dividends again, as Wright fed Messer in the penalty area with a perfectly weighted ball. Left back Messer, who already has three goals this season, sent his one-time shot past Kickers goalkeeper Pablo Jara, only to see the ball ricochet off the underside of the crossbar and back into play.
In the third minute of stoppage time, Jay Tee Kamara played a through ball to Michel Poon-Angeron in the penalty area, and Poon-Angeron drove a low shot towards the near post. Poon-Angeron's attempt was wide of the mark however, and the referee blew his whistle shortly thereafter to bring an end to the encounter.
Coach Bobby Murphy had this to say about the match, "I don't fault the players' efforts. I thought we played hard. I think they came in with a clear plan of not playing and making things difficult for us. There's times where you can get lulled into that. And I thought first half, we did a little bit of playing at their pace. Second half, we got the tempo and probably deserved a goal. But, you know, at the end of the day, goals change games. I think we're probably a little frustrated, but we'll take a look at it and move forward to next week."
GOALS
POR - NONE
RIC - NONE
DISCIPLINE
YC - Vinberg (POR 68'), Baer (RIC 77'), Kirkland (RIC 80')
RC - NONE
LINEUPS
PORTLAND - Hunter Morse, Nathan Messer, Sega Coulibaly (Sean Vinberg 62'), Kemali Green, Colby Quinones (Walter Varela 83'), Mikey Lopez ©, Michel Poon-Angeron, Patrick Langois (Evan Southern 62'), Ollie Wright, Noah Kvifte (Jake Keegan 74'), Jay Tee Kamara
Unused substitutes - Kash Oladapo, Mo Mohamed, Shandon Wright
RICHMOND - Pablo Jara, Dakota Barnathan ©, Hayden Anderson (Chandler O'Dwyer 55'), Simon Fitch, Maximiliano Schenfeld, Landon Johnson (Beckett Howell 83'), Josh Kirkland, Nils Seufert (Ryan Baer 65'), Klaidi Cela, Darwin Espinal (Adrian Billhardt 65'), Marcelo Lage
Unused substitutes - RIvendi Melvin Pierre-Louis, James Sneddon, Griffin Garnett
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