Portland Hearts of Pine v. Greenville Triumph: Three Thoughts
Titus Washington shines, plus two more thoughts.
Portland Hearts of Pine secured a 3-1 home win over Greenville Triumph SC on Wednesday night.
Masashi Wada opened the scoring in the 55th minute, with Titus Washington doubling the Hearts’ lead two minutes later.
Chevone Marsh gave the visitors some life when he scored in the 63rd minute, but Washington struck again to restore Hearts’ two-goal advantage.
Here are three thoughts from the game.
Washington Shines
Washington, a first-year pro out of Seattle University, continues to get better. On Wednesday, he was a menace while leading the front line, collecting two goals on four shots.
What I like most about Washington is that he’s finding ways to get behind defenders. The first goal happens because he receives a ball in space. This offsets Greenville, who struggle to recover.
Is the goal a bit lucky? Sure. But Bobby Murphy told us that Dick Hall believes that you make your own luck.
Washington’s second goal occurs because he’s alert enough to pick up a poor back pass. The striker is immediately off to the races, putting the game out of reach.
Hearts are a team that wants to play in transition. Washington is helping with this cause every time he makes a darting run towards goal.
After the game, Washington noted that the second tally was his favorite, saying, “It reminded me of Thierry Henry a little bit. I was watching Thierry Henry videos in the bathroom by myself, and it was getting me hyped up. That second one was a lot of fun and I’ve been practicing that type of stuff, so it’s nice to pay off.”
Morse Makes Early Saves
Greenville had a strong start to the match and could’ve easily been up within the first 10 minutes.
Hunter Morse stood firm, though. He courageously denied an onrushing Rodrigo Robles before tipping a missed clearance over the bar.
Little moments like this don’t always get recognized, but allowing an early goal will change the complexion of the game, as Hearts know all too well.
Keeping the game scoreless at halftime set the stage for Hearts to have a big second half.
“I thought we started slow but got into the game a little bit, and in the first half we were doing just enough, it felt like,” Murphy explained. “At half time we talked about how we have two choices: we can keep doing just enough, and nobody will say anything because you’ve been on the road; or you can find another gear or two and go and win this thing. You’ve got to make a choice, and they chose to go and find another gear or two.”
Pressure
A recent theme for Hearts is that they have to start getting results as they look to rise in the standings.
They certainly did that in their last two games, by battling the weather to collect their first road win against Texoma FC, then by soundly defeating Greenville.
Hearts now find themselves in the thick of it, sitting in 8th place with 19 points.
Pressure is part of professional soccer, but it’s also important to stay loose. Murphy spoke to Washington about something similar as the striker looked to score.
“I’m so happy for him,” Murphy said. “He wants to do well so badly. As much as we try to let the pressure out of the balloon, it keeps mounting. You could see it in the first half, so I brought him over and squirted water in his face and said, ‘You’re playing pro soccer for a living. Act like it. Put a smile on your face.’
“It’s been a theme these past few weeks, being resilient and breathing your way back into the moment and not letting things derail you. I thought he did that. He’s done such good work for the team the last few weeks.”