Soca Warriors striker Rundell Winchester scored and goalkeeper Justin Luthy earned a clean sheet to help guide Portland Timbers II to a 1-0 victory over LA Galaxy II in the United States Soccer League on Wednesday night in front of 1,817 fans at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif.
Playing in their final match of the 2015 season, T2 (11-15-2, 35pts) jumped ahead 1-0 as forward Michael Seaton recovered the ball in midfield and sprinted towards the left side of the box before slotting a pass for Winchester, who took a touch and calmly finished with his left foot in the 48th minute.Portland then absorbed some pressure throughout the match, but was able to keep the host side off the scoreboard.
LA Galaxy II (13-11-3, 42pts) pushed forward in the second half looking for the equalizer, but were thwarted by Portland's organized defense and some important interventions by Luthy.Luthy recorded six saves on the night, two of them coming in the final seconds of added time to deny LA its best chances of the night.
LA Galaxy II forward Travis Bowen fired a shot from close range forcing a diving save from Luthy as well as a reflex save on the follow up effort by forward Ariel Lassiter moments before the referee blew the final whistle.
Despite the win, Timbers II which ended with 35 points from 28 matches ended eight in the 12-team table and out of the top six playoff positions while Galaxy II, with a match still to play is fifth with 42 points and need a point its final match to be certain of qualification as Seattle Sounders, with 39 points and match to play as well can still finish in the top six as well.