Portland Hearts of Pine Notch Second Consecutive Road Shutout to Open Season

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USL1 Portland Hearts of Pine

Portland Hearts of Pine Notch Second Consecutive Road Shutout to Open Season

April 6, 2025 - United Soccer League One (USL1)
Portland Hearts of Pine News Release


PORTLAND, Maine - Portland Hearts of Pine (0-0-2) held USL League One leaders FC Naples to a scoreless draw on March 29 to open their inaugural season, and on Saturday night they repeated that feat in their second match, keeping 2024 runners-up Spokane Velocity FC (1-1-3) off the scoreboard in a 0-0 draw.

The back-to-back road clean sheets move Hunter Morse into second place in the league in shutouts in 2025, despite Hearts playing the fewest matches of any team; league shutout leader Lalo Delgado has collected his three clean sheets in five Naples starts.

With Hearts making their second road trip in seven days-with a 120-minute Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup win and a 15-hour cross-country journey from Maine to Washington sandwiched between the two-head coach Bobby Murphy rang the changes against Spokane, handing Shandon Wright, Mikey Lopez, Masashi Wada, and Evan Southern their first starts of the season.

Wada had in fact only arrived in the USA four days prior, flying to Maine from his native Japan on Tuesday night before joining the team on its Thursday flight to Spokane. The plan had been for the midfielder to watch from the bench; however, announced starter Samuel Mahlamäki Camacho was a late scratch, and Wada replaced him in the starting lineup shortly before kickoff.

Spokane came closest to breaking the deadlock in the 52nd minute when forward Anuar Peláez beat Morse, only to see his shot towards the far post ricochet off the woodwork. That sparked a period that saw Velocity pepper the Hearts goal with several shots in quick succession, as the hosts looked to take advantage of a tiring Portland backline that featured a trio of players who had played almost every minute of Hearts' shootout Open Cup win over Hartford Athletic on Wednesday.

Titus Washington, who came into the match for Wada in the 72nd minute, almost stole the match for Portland late, when in the 88th minute he turned a long-range shot goalward. Spokane goalkeeper Carlos Merancio scooped the ball up though, denying Washington the opportunity to give Hearts the lead.

Seven minutes into stoppage time Peláez thought he'd snatched a dramatic winner when he rose to meet a header in the penalty area, but his attempt was off target and went out for a goal kick. Morse's restart turned out to be the final play of the match.

Portland Hearts of Pine return to action on Saturday, April 12, when they head south to face South Georgia Tormenta FC (1-2-1) at Tormenta Stadium. The match will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be streamed live on ESPN+.

GOALS

POR - NONE

SPK - NONE

DISCIPLINE

YC - Lopez (POR - 39'), Peláez (SPK 45+1'), Poon-Angeron (POR 58'), S. Wright (89')

RC - NONE

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