BREMERTON, Wash. (AP) – Kitsap Pumas goalkeeper Dustyn Brim said he felt they did as well as they could against a higher division
opponent.

“The score doesn’t really reflect how we played,” he said. “We were able to hang with them for 88 minutes. It was neck and neck.”

But it was those final two minutes that led to the team’s downfall as the Pumas lost to the USL Division I Portland Timbers 3-0 in a Lamar Hunt U.S.
Open Cup first round match Tuesday night at Bremerton Memorial Stadium.

The loss is the first in team history and it’s also the first time the Pumas have been held to no goals.

The club remains in first place in the Northwest Division of the USL PDL (5-0-2, 17 points) with an away match at Abbotsford B.C. this Saturday. 

Portland scored its first goal just seconds into the second half after Keith Savage fed Brian Farber with a pass to his right just outside the box. There, Farber made a quick cutback to lose his defender and tap in a shot that beat Brim to the far post. 

“He actually went across his body and doofed it a little bit,” Brim said. “He framed it to the left and I positioned my body (that way) but he went to the right. It was a good finish.”

The Timbers scored two goals late to put the game out of reach. Jason McLaughlin took advantage of the Pumas’ decision to  push up, making a nice chip over Brim’s head in the 89th minute.

David Hayes rounded out the scoring with a penalty kick in injury time after a handball was called on Jesse Wheelock in the box.

Kitsap had several chances to score but couldn’t get the bounce they needed or simply had a call go against them at an inopportune moment. 

In the first three minutes of the first half, Pumas defender Mark Lee put a free kick right on the button to Spencer Schomaker but his header sailed just high over the crossbar.

Kyle Johnson also put a ball right on the mark to Conrad, but Portland goalkeeper Steve Cronin barely knocked the ball away before Conrad could
convert on it.

Johnson later put another corner in to Conrad but his header into the ground bounced high over the crossbar.

In the second half, the Pumas linked several great passes to Tony Kerr who scored - but was called offsides, by inches. 

Kerr said he felt he wasn’t offside and upon questioning received differing opinions.

“I’ve been told I was by one person and told I wasn’t by another,” he said. “I waited and I waited and I felt like maybe the ball could have come a little bit earlier – but I waited as long as I could have. “If that had counted, I thought we would go on to win, but it’s all in buts and maybes.”

Spencer Schomaker, who fed Kerr, admitted he wasn’t sure if he was offsides. “I didn’t have a good view,” he said. “He said he had someone keeping
him on... but I don’t know. Either way, it was pretty close.”

Schomaker later had a one-on-one with Cronin, but he put his shot wide as Cronin tackled him.

Despite protests from the crowd, Schomaker didn’t feel like he was fouled.

“He was coming out and I was trying to tap it past him, but unfortunately it went wide,” he said.

Head coach John Wedge said he felt the team played great.

“When you’re playing a higher level team, they’re going to be quicker onto loose balls,” he said. “I thought we started a little nervously, but our
guys really played well and showed great effort and heart. You can’t be disappointed with that.”

Brim agreed.

“I think we presented a lot more than they were expecting,” he said. “They were like, ’whoa,” and by hearing some of the talk at halftime
when I was walking through, the (Portland) coach (Gavin Wilkinson) was pissed. “I think we definitely showed that we can knock the ball around with anybody.”

Kerr said they’ll have to put this game behind them with the remainder of league play now in their view.

“We have to see this as a good experience,” he said. “We had a great crowd come out tonight. We have to just see this as an experience as
many of us won’t play games like that again.”

Official attendance was 2,128 - the biggest crowd in the Pumas’ brief history. 

Kitsap makes its first trek to Canada this Saturday to play Abbotsford.

They return home June 19th to host Victoria. Game time is at 7 p.m.,
with tickets still available through Brown Paper Tickets and the Pumas front office.