Drummans veiws of the Season

By Kurt Schubothe
September 11 2003

This is my veiws on the Timbers 2003 season. There were many high points as well as low points along the way as the Timbers did not make the playoffs for the first time in three seasons

The Timbers Season
By The Drumman  September 10th

My recap of the season goes like this.
    The Timbers had many new faces on the team for the second year in a row. Once again for the second season in a roe we played Seattle in the first and second match of the season as was the case the year before. Once again the Timbers lost both those game thus being eliminated fro the Open Cup for the second time in two seasons after the first two matches. In fact the Timbers lost 3 games in a row before they beat Calgary on the road in their 4th match of the season for their first win. It was so bad in May we lost 6 games and won 3. Last season the Timbers lost their first 6 matches in a row. After a start like that it was surprising we even had a chance to make a run for the playoffs and the Timbers did. The hold over from last season were forwards Fadi Afash and McKinley Tennyson. In Midfeild we had Hugo Alcaraz, Scott Benedetti and Brian Winters. in defense we had Gavin Wilkinson and Bryn Ritchie. Jake Sagare rejoined the line-up for the Minnesota game in May after his return from Grisby Town. The new lads were Byron Alvarez and Dan Antoniuk at forward. Manel Brasil, Jason Melendez, Adam Wilson at Mid. Ryan Youngblood, Lee Morrison, Aaron Heinzen and Nick Downing (who was on loan from the New England MLS team) were our defenders. We started the season with Curtis Spiteri as our starting keeper with Cole Burgman as his back up.
    Our forward line of Afash and Tenneyson played hurt most of May and Byron Alvarez could not play in Canada because of visa issues. In fact Byron did not get paid the whole season as he could not secure a work visa. These were some of the reasons for such a poor start. One bright spot in may was Cole Burgman the back up keeper winning both of his matches. Jake Sagare signed at the end of May playing his first match at home against Minnesota who crushed the Timbers. In the last match in May Jake started for Benedetti in Center Mid against Vancouver. This was the best the Timbers played as a team as Jake played the Midfeild like a man who was possessed. He won the balls and distributed to the players the likes we had never seen in such a long time maybe never with this current team. Byron Alverez scored the game winning goal his first of many more to come during the season as he became the scoring leader of the team. This was the turn around game of the season as the Timbers finished with 12 wins 2 ties and 5 losses for the rest of the season. Timbers coach Bobby Howe went back to Scott Benedetti at center mid after this match which was a big surprise to me as Jake played it so well. This could have been the biggest reason the Timbers misted the playoffs for the first time in three years.
    The arrival of Josh Saunders in Goal on loan from San Jose was a big factor to the late season success as he recorded six shutouts in the Timbers last 16 matches. Byron Alvarez scored 12 goals and 1 assist for 25 points and McKinley Tenneyson scored 11 goals and had 11 goals and 4 assist for 26 points. Hugo Alcarez lead the team with 9 assist. Jake Sagare had his best season with the Timbers scoring 4 goals with 1 assist. The speed Aaron Heiinzen and Jake Sagare was a big plus for the team and they were teammates at the University of Washington. Jake won two matches for the Timbers  and his goal against the Sounders on 18th of August at PGE Park was the best goal by a Timbers this season. Jake had beat three Seattle defenders with his speed down the wing and cut to the top of the goal area a fired a rocket. This all came with the Timbers playing their 3rd game in 4 days and the day before Tie up in Vancouver where Jake also scored a goal.
     General Manager Jim Taylor has said the following players are signed to play at least one more season with the Timbers. They are defenders Gavin Wilkinson, Lee Morrison, Bryn Ritchie and Aaron Heinzen; forward/midfielder Jason Melendez; and forward Dan Antoniuk. They will be working on getting Byron Alvarez a green card and signing him for three years. Taylor will be working on getting keeper Josh Saunders back and trying to sign Jake Sagare to a three year deal. If Taylor can get Byron, Josh and Jake back next season looks good. There are some other changes I would like to see happen to help the team get on the right track as the next season starts. That will be another write-up.

Drumman

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