Hearts Shock Greenville with Stoppage Time Stunner
USL1 Portland Hearts of Pine

Hearts Shock Greenville with Stoppage Time Stunner

Published on September 3, 2025 under United Soccer League One (USL1)
Portland Hearts of Pine News Release


PORTLAND, Maine - Forty-five minutes weren't enough for Portland Hearts of Pine to find the back of the net in the first half. Nor were 90 minutes enough to find a winner in the second half.

But that's what stoppage time is for, right?

In the end, a short-handed Hearts (7-4-9) side shocked Greenville Triumph (6-10-6) at Paladin Stadium on Wednesday night, winning 3-2 with goals in both first- and second-half stoppage time, the latter coming while down a man.

Greenville opened the scoring in the 15th minute when Kemali Green misdirected a header, accidentally sending it arcing behind him and directly in the path of Ropapa Mensah while trying to clear it. Mensah, one-on-one with Hunter Morse, had no trouble sending it past the Hearts goalkeeper from close range, giving the home side an early advantage on the scoreboard.

The Triumph spent most of the first half firmly on the front foot, and while they had just 43% possession in the first 45 minutes they doubled Portland in shots, 12-6, and forced Morse to make six saves.

But, crucially, they were unable to find the back of the net again in the opening period, and that opened the door for Hearts to finally turn possession into a score.

When Portland finally did put one on the board, it was on the back of an audacious bit of skill from midfielder Masashi Wada. In the first minute of stoppage time, Mikey Lopez, filling in at right back, found Wada at the edge of the Greenville penalty area with his back to the goal. Wada turned and blew past Triumph captain Brandon Fricke, sending the ball to Fricke's left while he went to Fricke's right before collecting the size 5 Select behind the stunned defender and shooting across the goal into the bottom far corner of the net.

Five minutes after the restart, Greenville edged back in front when Toby Sims lofted a cross into the Portland penalty area, where it sailed over the head of Morse and fell to Rodrigo Robles wide open at the far post; Robles tapped the ball home into an open goal from a yard out, and the hosts were back in front, 2-1.

But with 10 minutes left on the clock, Hearts tied the match up again. Nathan Messer, from out wide on the left, sent a low ball into the Greenville penalty area. The cross found Jay Tee Kamara in space, and Kamara cut inside onto his preferred left foot and sent a shot goalward. Whether Gunther Rankenberg could have saved Kamara's effort will forever remain a mystery though, as the shot ricocheted off Zane Bubb's head and flew past Rankenberg into the goal.

But just as Portland was looking to build momentum and push for a huge three points on the road, disaster struck. In the 85th minute Michel Poon-Angeron was shown his second yellow card of the match as a result of a reckless tackle, and just like that Hearts were down to 10 men.

But being a man down and 900 miles from home wasn't going to slow Portland. Rather than bring center back Shandon Wright or fullback Mo Mohamed off the bench to park the bus and play for the tie, head coach Bobby Murphy went for the jugular and used his final substitution window to bring on attacking midfielder Mickey Reilly.

Then, in the first minute of stoppage time, Titus Washington drove a dagger through the hearts of the home team. Kamara, who turned in a matchwinning performance in his 27 minutes on the pitch, found Washington in the penalty area, and Washington was able to turn Kamara's pass past Rankenberg and into the back of the net. The crowd was stunned; the visitors, meanwhile, celebrated in a Portland dogpile on the end line.

UP NEXT: The win is Portland's third in as many matches, a run that has seen the league's hottest team leap from 10th to 6th in the standings. Hearts are off this coming weekend, but on September 13 return home to Fitzpatrick Stadium to host league leaders Chattanooga Red Wolves SC (11-2-8). The match will kick off at 6:00 p.m. ET and will stream live on NESN+ and ESPN+.

GOALS

POR - Masashi Wada 45'+1 (Mikey Lopez), Jay Tee Kamara 80' (Nathan Messer), Titus Washington 90'+1 (Kamara)

GVL - Ropapa Mensah 15', Rodrigo Robles 50' (Toby Sims)

DISCIPLINE

YC - Michel Poon-Angeron (POR 3'), Mikey Lopez (POR 53'), Ropapa Mensah (GVL 84') Poon-Angeron (85'), Portland bench (88'), Zane Bubb (90'+5)

RC - Poon-Angeron (85')

LINEUPS

Portland Hearts of Pine - Hunter Morse, Nathan Messer, Kemali Green, Sean Vinberg, Mikey Lopez ©, Pat Langlois (Jay Tee Kamara 63'), Michel Poon-Angeron, Masahi Wada, Ollie Wright (Evan Southern 63'), Walter Varela (Mickey Reilly 87'), Noah Kvifte (Titus Washington 46')

Unused substitutes - Kash Oladapo, Shandon Wright, Mo Mohamed

Greenville Triumph SC - Gunther Rankenberg, Tyler Polak, Brandon Fricke © (Ivan Agyaakwah 74'), Zane Bubb, Toby Sims, Pascal Corvino (Chevone Marsh 74'), Louis Herrera, Rodrigo Robles (Ben Zakowski 66'), Evan Lee (Ezekiel Soto 74'), Connor Evans, Ropapa Mensah

Unused substitutes - Seth Torman, Anthony Patti, DJ Benton, Carlos Anguiano, Aidan Blinzer

Check out the Portland Hearts of Pine Statistics

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United Soccer League One Stories from September 3, 2025


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