PORTLAND — There was no stumbling this time.
A season after an embarrassing exit from the U.S. Open Cup tournament set the tone for the rest of a dismal 2012, the Timbers wasted no time dispatching the Wilmington Hammerheads, winning 5-1 on Wednesday in front of a crowd of 10,924 at Jeld-Wen Field.
Forward Frederic Piquionne scored four goals — all in the first half — against the USL PRO side as the Timbers advanced to the fourth round of American’s national soccer championship. Futty Danso scored his first goal of 2013 in the second half.
The Timbers will host the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the second-division North American Soccer League on June 12 in a fourth-round Open Cup match. The Rowdies advanced with a 1-0 win over visiting Seattle on Wednesday.
“I waited for this first goal with the team from the start of the season,” Piquionne said. “I’ve had many chances, but I missed them. Tonight I had maybe five shots, and four in the goal.”
A day before the match, Timbers coach Caleb Porter noted that the 34-year-old Piquionne was rounding into shape and that his goal-scoring ability would soon be on display. Porter predicted that once Piquionne scored his first goal with the Timbers, more would follow.
Boy, did they.
Piquionne started the scoring with a header on a Will Johnson corner kick in the game’s second minute. He capped the first half with another header of a Johnson delivery, this one from a free kick in stoppage time. Between those finishes, he delivered a scoring header from a Michael Harrington cross in the 17th minute, and then hit the target with a through pass from Kalif Alhassan in the 34th minute.
“I knew it was going to happen at some point because he’s a goal scorer,” Porter said.
Wilmington’s goal came in the 64th minute. After Portland missed a chance to clear away a corner kick, Paul Nicholson controlled the loose ball and lofted it into the goal.
Johnson got his third assist of the night in the 74th minute, when Danso headed home a corner kick.
Porter said he reminded his players to respect the opponent, but to prove they were the MLS squad.
“I think the reason we played so well is we went into the game with the right attitude and right mentality and didn’t take this team lightly,” Porter said.
Any doubt about Porter’s expectations on Wednesday were erased when the starting lineup was announced.
Of the 11 Portland starters, only goalkeeper Milos Kocic and Jose Valencia have not started at least two Major League Soccer matches this season. Darlington Nagbe started at forward with Piquionne before giving way to Sal Zizzo at halftime. Johnson and Ben Zemanski played in midfield, flanked by Valencia and Alhassan. The starting back four were Harrington on the left, Futty Danso and Andrew Jean-Baptiste in the middle, and Ryan Miller on the right.
In the first half, Wilmington was most dangerous during a three-minute spree that followed Piquionne’s third goal. In short order, Kocic was in the right spot to stop a close-range header on the first corner kick of the night for the visitors, then made a nice reaction stop on a diving header from Kyle Greg.
But the show belonged to Piquionne, who said he had never scored more than three goals in a game. He praised Porter for being both patient and positive with him as he worked his way back into form after limited action over the previous year.
“Now, I try to give my best on the field for him,” Piquionne said. “Tonight, I smile.”
Notes
• Piquionne became the second Timbers player to score at least three goals in a U.S. Open Cup match. Bright Dike did it in 2010 against the Kitsap Pumas.
• The Timbers-Rowdies history includes Soccer Bowl ’75, the 1975 NASL championship game won by Tampa Bay.
• Argentine midfielder Diego Valeri was among the substitutes dressed for the game but did not play.
• Rauwshan McKenzie made his Timbers debut, coming on for Harrington and playing right back the final 20 minutes.
• Five goals is a franchise record for Open Cup games, toping a 4-1 win over Kitsap as a second-division club in 2010.
