2003 Portland Timbers season

Portland Timbers

2003 season
President	Mark Schuster
Head coach	Bobby Howe
Stadium	PGE Park Portland, Oregon
A-League	Division: 3rd Playoffs: Did not qualify
U.S. Open Cup	Qualification series
Top goalscorer	Byron Alvarez (12 goals)
Highest home attendance	13,351 vs. ELP (Aug 29)
Lowest home attendance	2,772 vs. CGY (May 14)
Average home league attendance	5,871
Home colors Away colors
← 2002 2004 →

The 2003 Portland Timbers season was the 3rd season for the Portland Timbers—the 3rd incarnation of a club to bear the Timbers name—of the now-defunct A-League, the second-tier league of the United States and Canada at the time.

  Division Final round of playoffs

Pos	Club	Pts	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD
1	Seattle Sounders	53	28	16	7	5	45	24	+21
2	Vancouver Whitecaps	52	28	15	6	7	45	24	+21
3	Portland Timbers	47	28	15	11	2	39	33	+6
4	Team Calgary[A]	15	28	4	21	3	16	62	−46

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	Pts	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD
28	47	15	11	2	39	33	+6	10	3	1	24	13	+11	5	8	1	15	20	−5

Source: ^[1]
Pld = Matches played; Pts = Points; W = Matches won; T = Matches tied; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference

Home

Away

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 4 DF  USA Bryn Ritchie 5 DF  NZL Gavin Wilkinson 6 MF  USA Manuel Brasil 7 MF  MEX Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar 8 MF  USA Jason Melendez 9 FW  USA McKinley Tennyson 10 FW  SYR Fadi Afash 11 MF  USA Brian Winters 13 DF  USA Ryan Youngblood 14 MF  USA Scott Benedetti

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 FW  MEX Byron Alvarez 18 MF  USA Adam Wilson 19 DF  USA Nick Downing (on loan from New England Revolution) 20 MF  USA Jake Sagare 21 GK  USA Cole Burgman 22 FW  USA Dan Antoniuk 23 DF  USA Aaron Heinzen 24 DF  USA Lee Morrison 30 GK  USA Josh Saunders (on loan from San Jose Earthquakes)

A-League All-League Second Team^[4]

Pos	Player	GP
FW	Byron Alvarez	21

A-League Player of the Week^[5]

Week	Player	Opponent(s)
12	Byron Alvarez	Vancouver Whitecaps (x2)

A-League Team of the Week

Week	Player	Opponent(s)	Ref
5	McKinley Tennyson	Calgary Storm, Seattle Sounders	[6]
7	Byron Alvarez	Vancouver Whitecaps	[7]
11	Byron Alvarez	Calgary Storm (x2)	[8]
	Josh Saunders
12	Byron Alvarez	Vancouver Whitecaps (x2)	[9]
13	Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar	El Paso Patriots, Milwaukee Wave United	[10]
	Byron Alvarez
17	Byron Alvarez	Seattle Sounders (x2)	[11]
18	Gavin Wilkinson	Indiana Blast, Vancouver Whitecaps, Seattle Sounders	[12]
20	Scott Benedetti	El Paso Patriots	[13]
	Bryn Ritchie

All players contracted to the club during the season included.^[14][15][16]

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		A-League
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
(1)	GK	USA	Curtis Spiteri (released)	10	0	10+0	0
4	DF	USA	Bryn Ritchie (began season wearing kit number 2)	18	1	10+8	1
(4)	MF	USA	Jake Vaughn (released)	6	0	1+5	0
5	DF	NZL	Gavin Wilkinson	22	2	22+0	2
6	MF	USA	Manuel Brasil	10	0	7+3	0
7	MF	MEX	Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar	27	1	27+0	1
8	MF	USA	Jason Melendez	18	1	11+7	1
9	FW	USA	McKinley Tennyson	28	11	24+4	11
10	FW	SYR	Fadi Afash	21	4	14+7	4
11	MF	USA	Brian Winters	28	0	28+0	0
13	DF	USA	Ryan Youngblood	6	0	1+5	0
14	MF	USA	Scott Benedetti	25	1	25+0	1
15	FW	MEX	Byron Alvarez	21	12	12+9	12
18	MF	USA	Adam Wilson	3	0	0+3	0
19	DF	USA	Nick Downing	26	0	24+2	0
20	MF	USA	Jake Sagare	20	4	20+0	4
21	GK	USA	Cole Burgman	2	0	2+0	0
22	FW	USA	Dan Antoniuk	20	1	4+16	1
23	DF	USA	Aaron Heinzen	27	0	27+0	0
24	DF	USA	Lee Morrison	24	1	23+1	1
30	GK	USA	Josh Saunders	16	0	16+0	0
(—)	DF	TRI	Brent Sancho (transferred to Dundee)	0	0	0+0	0

Players with 1 goal or more included only.^[14][15][16]

Rk.	Nat.	Position	Player	Total	A-League
1		FW	Byron Alvarez	12	12
2		FW	McKinley Tennyson	11	11
3		FW	Fadi Afash	4	4
		MF	Jake Sagare	4	4
5		DF	Gavin Wilkinson	2	2
6		MF	Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar	1	1
		FW	Dan Antoniuk	1	1
		MF	Scott Benedetti	1	1
		MF	Jason Melendez	1	1
		DF	Lee Morrison	1	1
		DF	Bryn Ritchie	1	1
			TOTALS	39	39

Players with 1 card or more included only.^[14][15][16]

No.	Nat.	Position	Player	Total		A-League
4		DF	Bryn Ritchie	5	0	5	0
5		DF	Gavin Wilkinson	6	1	6	1
6		MF	Manuel Brasil	1	0	1	0
7		MF	Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar	4	1	4	1
8		MF	Jason Melendez	1	0	1	0
9		FW	McKinley Tennyson	4	0	4	0
10		FW	Fadi Afash	3	0	3	0
11		MF	Brian Winters	5	0	5	0
14		MF	Scott Benedetti	4	1	4	1
15		FW	Byron Alvarez	2	0	2	0
19		DF	Nick Downing	4	0	4	0
20		MF	Jake Sagare	0	1	0	1
23		DF	Aaron Heinzen	6	0	6	0
24		DF	Lee Morrison	2	0	2	0
			TOTALS	47	4	47	4

All goalkeepers included.^[14][15][16]

No.	Nat.	Player	Total				A-League
			MIN	GA	GAA	SV	MIN	GA	GAA	SV
(1)		Curtis Spiteri	905	17	1.69	38	905	17	1.69	38
21		Cole Burgman	180	1	0.50	9	180	1	0.50	9
30		Josh Saunders	1493	15	0.90	58	1493	15	0.90	58
		TOTALS	2578	33	1.15	105	2578	33	1.15	105

Date	Player	Position	Previous club	Fee/notes	Ref
April 1, 2003	Dan Antoniuk (R)	FW	Wheaton Lyons	Free	[17]
April 1, 2003	Jason Melendez (R)	MF	UNLV Rebels	Free	[17]
April 1, 2003	Lee Morrison	DF	Dallas Burn	Free	[17]
April 1, 2003	Curtis Spiteri (R)	GK	Portland Pilots	A-League College Player Draft, 2nd round	[17]
April 1, 2003	Jake Vaughn	MF	Unattached	Free	[17]
April 1, 2003	Adam Wilson	MF	Hershey Wildcats	Free	[17]
April 4, 2003	Cole Burgman	GK	Atlanta Silverbacks	Free	[17]
April 2003	Byron Alvarez	FW	MetroStars	Signed amateur contract due to complications acquiring a P-1 visa; played entire 2003 season without pay	[18]
May 27, 2003	Jake Sagare	MF	Grimsby Town	Free	[19]

Date	Player	Position	Parent Club	Fee/notes	Ref
April 14, 2003	Nick Downing	DF	New England Revolution	Season-long loan	[20]
June 25, 2003	Josh Saunders	GK	San Jose Earthquakes	Season-long loan	[21]

Date	Player	Position	Destination club	Fee/notes	Ref
End of 2002 season	Chugger Adair	FW	N/A	Contract expired and not re-signed
End of 2002 season	Sean McAuley	DF	N/A	Contract expired and not re-signed
End of 2002 season	Jake Sagare	MF	N/A	Contract expired and not re-signed
January 22, 2003	Greg Howes	FW	Unattached	Released	[17]
January 24, 2003	Matt Napoleon	GK	Unattached	Retired	[22]
April 2, 2003	Vadim Tolstolutsky	FW	Unattached	Retired	[23]
April 8, 2003	Chris Smith	GK	Unattached	Released	[17]
April 14, 2003	Keith Costigan	DF	Unattached	Released	[20]
April 14, 2003	Erik Ozimek	MF	Unattached	Released	[20]
April 14, 2003	Ben Somoza	MF	Unattached	Released	[20]
June 9, 2003	Jake Vaughn	MF	Unattached	Released	[24]
July 1, 2003	Curtis Spiteri	GK	Unattached	Released	[25]
August 7, 2003	Brent Sancho	DF	Dundee	Undisclosed fee	[26]

Date	Player	Position	Destination club	Fee/notes	Ref
September 13, 2002	Brent Sancho	DF	San Juan Jabloteh	Season-long loan; allowed to tour with the Trinidad and Tobago national football team following San Juan Jabloteh's season; subsequently sold to Dundee	[27]

Date	Player	Position	Previous club	Notes	Ref
December 17, 2002	Ryan Coiner	FW	San Diego Toreros Orange County Blue Star	A-League College Player Draft, 1st round	[28]

• ^ ^{a b} The United Soccer Leagues took over operations of the Calgary Storm following financial troubles by the ownership group and the team finished the season as Team Calgary.^[29]
• ^{^} On February 14, it was announced that a tentative deal had been reached with the City of Portland in which Portland Family Entertainment (PFE) would be dissolved and a new group, Metropolitan Sports (a subset of PFE investors), would take over ownership of the Timbers and the Portland Beavers baseball club.^[30] The Timbers referred to Metropolitan Sports as the owner throughout much of the 2003 season. However, Metropolitan Sports was not able to secure the required funding and the deal was never completed.