Hamzat Ojediran and Lucas Herrington each scored a goal and Zack Steffen turned in a clean sheet for the Colorado Rapids in a 2-0 win over the Portland Timbers on Saturday in Commerce City, Colo.
Jackson Travis and Dante Sealy had assists for the Rapids (1-1-0, 3 points). Steffen added three saves for Colorado. After a 2-0 loss last week in Seattle, Colorado started the match with an aggressive offensive attack.
Colorado struck first when Travis gathered the rebound of a corner and found Ojediran well outside the box. His right-footed shot from distance bounded through the back line, was redirected and Portland keeper James Pantemis couldn’t pivot in time as the ball snuck into the right corner and gave the Rapids a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute.
Colorado pressed forward and forced numerous set pieces deep in their attacking third. At the five-minute mark, Paxten Aaronson’s driven ball connected with Rob Holding. His diving header was on frame and turned away by Pantemis.
Staked to a 1-0 advantage, Colorado continued to press the Portland defense. The Rapids racked up 25 shots, 10 which were on goal. Portland (1-1-0, 3 points) fired off 12 shots and three were on target.
In the 51st minute, Rafael Navarro’s steal at midfield led to an open run, but his heavy shot was wide right. Moments later Alex Harris again broke the Timbers’ back line, but Pantemis slapped away his chip shot.
As the Rapids’ offensive assault built, the resulting in-swinging corner off the left foot of Sealy connected with Herrington whose header tucked inside the back post in the 53rd minute.
In the 69th minute it was Steffen who turned away a dangerous chance off the right foot of Gage Guerra to preserve the shutout. On another set piece off a restart, Rob Holding’s header hit the cross bar and sailed out of bounds. Colorado held a 12-6 edge in corner kicks.
A dangerous challenge from behind earned Jimer Fory a red card in the 77th minute, and the Timbers played a man down the rest of the match.
–Field Level Media
