On Friday night, the Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers played to a 1-1 draw, so Portland can no longer overtake Victoria for the division title.
Now the game against Portland tonight at Royal Athletic Park, starting at 7:30 p.m., is a warm-up for the playoffs. The men鈥檚 game, the final of the regular season for the Highlanders, follows a women鈥檚 Pacific Coast Soccer League match between the Peninsula Co-op Higlanders (10-1-2) and Okanagan FC (7-4-3) set for 5 p.m.
The Highlanders (8-1-4) came tantanlizingly close to wrapping up the top spot last weekend in PDL play, when a victory over either the Washington Crossfire or Seattle Sounders U-23 would have clinched it. Instead, the Highlanders fought to tough draws of 2-2 and 1-1, respectively, and remained undefeated through a gruelling schedule of six straight road games.
Including the Charity Shield exhibition game, Victoria played seven games in 17 days.
鈥淭o come out of that road trip with three wins and three ties is pretty impressive,鈥� Highlanders coach Steve Simonson said at practice earlier this week. 鈥淲e鈥檙e inching toward the division title.鈥�
As the standings shaped up heading into this weekend鈥檚 action, which two teams will join the Highlanders in the playoffs is anybody鈥檚 guess. North Sound was the only one of the seven clubs not still in the running in the Northwest Division, and they had the opportunity to knock Washington out on Friday.
鈥淭o me, this year鈥檚 been such a challenge,鈥� Simonson said. 鈥淭op to bottom, teams have taken points off each other.
鈥淭here are no easy games.鈥�
And regardless of the standings, neither Victoria or Portland is expecting an easy game tonight. The Highlanders downed Portland 2-0 during one of their road trips, but the Timbers U-23 are regularly among the league leaders, and won the PDL championship in 2010, capping an undefeated season.
鈥淪ince I鈥檝e been in the league, they鈥檝e always been one of the top teams, and we always have good games against them,鈥� Highlanders captain Tyler Hughes said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a tough game, for sure.鈥�
Portland coach Jim Rilatt agreed with that assessment. Rilatt described the Highlanders as playing organized, intelligent soccer, and he loves to watch them. He also loves coming to Victoria to shake hands and have an 鈥渙ld home week鈥� moment with veterans such as Hughes.
鈥淚t鈥檚 great to see these guys influence the young guys. I鈥檇 have [Hughes] on any team I ever coached, because he keeps the guys around him right,鈥� Rilatt said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 enjoyable to watch him play.鈥�
Rilatt was anticipating a tight game, and felt it would be tough to rebound if his team got down early.
鈥淚t could be a comedy trying to get the lead back.鈥�
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