Portland Timbers 2 is an American professional
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
team based in
Portland, Oregon
Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
. The team, often referred to as "T2", serves as the reserve squad for the
Portland Timbers
The Portland Timbers are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Timbers have p ...
of
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...
(MLS).
The team was a member of the
USL Championship
The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...
from 2015 to 2019, and was in the second tier of the
United States soccer pyramid beginning in 2016. The organization withdrew from the 2021 USL Championship season so it could better transfer players to its parent club during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. The reserves are now part of MLS reserve league
MLS Next Pro
MLS Next Pro (MLSNP) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada that is affiliated with Major League Soccer (MLS). It launched in 2022 with 21 teams and now comprises 27 reserve sides of MLS clu ...
.
History
The Timbers announced the formation of their
USL Pro
The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) as its premier league for men above USL League One. Operating under a f ...
team at a press conference on October 14, 2014.
Jay Vidovich, long-time
Wake Forest head coach and two-time NSCAA National Coach of the Year, was hired as T2's head coach on December 18, 2014. Timbers 2 held an open tryout in February 2015. It was announced on February 19 that there are six players currently signed to Timbers 2. Their home games were played at
Merlo Field
Harry A. Merlo Field at the Clive Charles Soccer Complex is a 4,892-capacity soccer-specific stadium in Portland, Oregon on the campus of the University of Portland where it serves as home to the school's Portland Pilots men's soccer, men's and P ...
, a soccer-specific stadium at the
University of Portland
The University of Portland (UP) is a private Catholic university in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded in 1901 and is affiliated with the Congregation of Holy Cross, which also founded UP's sister school, the University of Notre Da ...
for their first two seasons. After the 2016 season, the Timbers moved T2 home games to
Providence Park
Providence Park (formerly Jeld-Wen Field; PGE Park; Civic Stadium; originally Multnomah Stadium; and from 1893 until the stadium was built, Multnomah Field) is an outdoor soccer venue located in the Goose Hollow neighborhood of Portland, Oregon ...
, and T2 would play there for the next three seasons. After the 2019 season, the Timbers announced that the ownership group of the
Hillsboro Hops
The Hillsboro Hops are a Minor League Baseball team in the Pacific Northwest, northwest United States, located in Hillsboro, Oregon, a city in the Portland metropolitan area. The Hops are members of the Northwest League and are the High-A affilia ...
, a
minor-league
Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
team based in the Portland suburb of
Hillsboro, Oregon
Hillsboro ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County, Oregon, Washington County. Situated in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city hosts many High tech, high-te ...
, would take over the business operations of T2, while the Timbers would remain T2 owners with responsibility for the playing staff. As part of this agreement, T2 will move to
Hillsboro Stadium for 2020. For the 2023 season, T2 moved back to Providence Park.
In T2's first season, the team finished in 8th place in the Western Conference of the league table with 11 wins, 15 losses, and 2 ties.
Kharlton Belmar was named USL Rookie of the Year and selected for the All-League Second Team. Jay Vidovich resigned to become head coach of the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...
. Assistant Coach
Andrew Gregor was hired to replace him on January 6, 2016.
T2 in 2016 had finished in ninth place in the Western Conference. Midway towards the end of the season, T2 had attempted to make a comeback to clinch the final spot for the USL playoffs which increased from the top six to eight teams in each conference. Timbers 2 competed against Arizona United in their final game of their season. Although the team had defeated Arizona, it was not enough to secure the final spot for a playoff berth due to Orange County winning in their final game with a better goal difference than T2.
In October 2020, T2 announced it would skip the 2021 USL season, aiming to return in 2022.
MLS Next Pro
The club announced on December 6, 2021, that it was joining the inaugural 21-team
MLS Next Pro
MLS Next Pro (MLSNP) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada that is affiliated with Major League Soccer (MLS). It launched in 2022 with 21 teams and now comprises 27 reserve sides of MLS clu ...
season starting in 2022.
Players and staff
Roster
Staff
Head coaches
Badge and crest
T2's logo contains the same axe that is used in their parent organization's logo. The shape and design were previously used by the Portland Timbers
USL franchise. The typeface used in the team's logo is the same font used in the 1975 Portland Timbers
North American Soccer League
The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to
1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...
kits. The
chevrons behind the axe are the same pattern used in the original Timbers mark.
Stadium
*
Merlo Field
Harry A. Merlo Field at the Clive Charles Soccer Complex is a 4,892-capacity soccer-specific stadium in Portland, Oregon on the campus of the University of Portland where it serves as home to the school's Portland Pilots men's soccer, men's and P ...
(2015–2016; 2019)
*
Providence Park
Providence Park (formerly Jeld-Wen Field; PGE Park; Civic Stadium; originally Multnomah Stadium; and from 1893 until the stadium was built, Multnomah Field) is an outdoor soccer venue located in the Goose Hollow neighborhood of Portland, Oregon ...
(2017–2019)
*
Hillsboro Stadium (2020–2022)
*
Providence Park
Providence Park (formerly Jeld-Wen Field; PGE Park; Civic Stadium; originally Multnomah Stadium; and from 1893 until the stadium was built, Multnomah Field) is an outdoor soccer venue located in the Goose Hollow neighborhood of Portland, Oregon ...
(2023)
Record
Year-by-year
References
External links
*
T2: Timbers' new minor-league club offers taste of the past, glimpse of the future- ''Portland Business Journal''
- OregonLive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Portland Timbers
Timbers 2
2014 establishments in Oregon
Association football clubs established in 2014
2
Reserve team soccer in the United States
MLS Next Pro teams
Former USL Championship teams
Soccer clubs in Oregon