Portland Takes Down Texoma with Second Straight Shutout
Published on September 27, 2025 under United Soccer League One (USL1)
Portland Hearts of Pine News Release
PORTLAND, Maine - On a crisp early fall night, Portland Hearts of Pine (10-4-10) picked up their second 1-0 win over Texoma FC (6-12-8) in as many matches and their second 1-0 win in as many weeks, fighting their way to all three points in front of a crowd of 5,781 on Saturday night.
One week after downing FC Naples 1-0, Hearts almost opened the scoring in stunning fashion in the 13th minute when Titus Washington thrust out his leg and deflected Javier Garcia's attempted clearance into the path of Masashi Wada. Wada attempted to chip the ball over Garcia, but the Texoma goalkeeper leaped and tipped it wide of the goal.
The scrappy first half saw the teams combine for 15 shots-with six different Hearts players responsible for the home side's nine attempts at goal-but no goals, and the sides headed to the locker room locked in a scoreless battle.
Titus Washington almost broke the deadlock in the 70th minute when his shot from the edge of the penalty area elicited a diving save from Garcia, but it was left back Messer who finally broke through in the 75th minute.
Washington had the ball at the edge of the Texoma penalty area on the right side of the pitch, then fed it centrally to Natty James who completed the crossfield switch by finding Ollie Wright wide on the left. Wright held right back Will Perkins in position, letting Messer run past the defender, then fed the ball through to the Hearts fullback as he sprinted into the penalty area. Messer's one-time shot flew past Garcia into the back of the net, and orange smoke-a new addition this week to celebrate Portland's new Blaze kit-billowed from the Dirigo Union section of the stands.
Coach Bobby Murphy had this to say about the match: "There's a lot of good players in this world. I think the differentiator is good people. If I'm proud of one thing, it's that I've recruited 24 really good people who really buy into each other and buy into being supportive of each other and working hard towards a common goal. I don't think that can be underestimated when things get hard like they did tonight. That's what I'm most proud of for them. Results in soccer are one thing, but life is a different whole other thing and the way they interact with the fans and stay and the way they support each other."
UP NEXT: Hearts hit the road for a midweek match against Union Omaha on Wednesday, then return to Forty Fitzy to face Forward Madison FC at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 4. Wednesday's match is set to kick off at 1:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+, while Saturday's match will steam on NESN, NESN+, and ESPN+
GOALS
POR - Nathan Messer 75' (Ollie Wright)
TEX - NONE
DISCIPLINE
YC - Nathan Messer (POR 4'), Ozzie Ramos (TEX 25'), Texoma head coach (TEX 32'), Texoma assistant coach (TEX 32'), Mikey Lopez (POR 48'), Titus Washington (POR 59'), Michel Poon-Angeron (POR 76'), Will Perkins (TEX 81'), Hunter Morse (POR 90'+3)
RC - NONE
LINEUPS
POR - Hunter Morse, Nathan Messer, Kemali Green, Sean Vinberg, Mo Mohamed, Michel Poon-Angeron (Pat Langlois 83'), Mikey Lopez ©, Masashi Wada (Natty James 66'), Jay Tee Kamara (Walter Varela 66'), Ollie Wright (Jake Keegan 83'), Titus Washington (Noah Kvifte 90'+2)
Unused substitutes - Kash Oladapo, Shandon Wright
TEX - Javier Garcia, Angelo Calfo ©, Reid Valentine, David Mason (Patrick Staszewski 85'), Will Perkins, Ozzie Ramos (Brayan Padilla 90'+2), Luke McCormick, Ajmeer Spengler, Teddy Baker, JP Jordan (Lamin Jawneh 76'), Brandon McManus
Unused substitutes - Mason McCready, Preston Kilwien, Diego Pepi, Aldair Flowers
United Soccer League One Stories from September 27, 2025
- Spokane Velocity FC Battle Hard in 1-0 Loss to Greenville Triumph SC - Spokane Velocity FC
- Lee Reaches 200 Matches as Triumph Earn Crucial Shutout - Greenville Triumph SC
- Tormenta FC Crushes Richmond Kickers in 4-2 Victory - South Georgia Tormenta FC
- Portland Takes Down Texoma with Second Straight Shutout - Portland Hearts of Pine
- FC Naples' 4-0 Victory Clinches Playoffs in Inaugural Season - FC Naples
- Kickers Fall, 4-2, to Tormenta on the Road - Richmond Kickers
- Los Pájaros Fall 0-1 - Texoma FC
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
