T2 Travel to Tulsa to Take On Roughnecks

For the third time this month, all three Portland teams will play on the same day. After a bad result against S2 again in the Open Cup, T2 return to league play to take on the Tulsa Roughnecks in the first of a three game road trip.

Portland Timbers 2

T2 (3-4-2, 11 pts) are coming off a pair of losses to rivals S2. They were defeated at Merlo Field for the first time last Friday night in league play. S2 came down and achieved their first ever road win in a 2-0 affair over T2. That win also secured 1st place in the USL Western conference matching their first team as leading their respective conference in their team's division.

But if that wasn't bad enough, T2 had to travel north to play S2 in the Third Round of the US Open Cup. And that was another 2-1 defeat similar to their first visit to Starfire earlier in the year in league play. T2 grabbed the lead in the second half, but it was getting the goal that woke up a sleeping S2 team. They equalized 10 mins later and through valiant efforts by both goalkeepers the game went into extra time where S2 grabbed the game winner.

Now after two defeats in a row, T2 must return to league play and face another three match road swing. Hopefully the travel shouldn't be too bad. They start off in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Saturday but get to stay in Oklahoma when they face the Oklahoma City Energy next Friday, June 5th. And the road swing will conclude with the rescheduled Colorado Springs match that was delayed due to severe weather.

T2 don't have the best record on the road, having gone 1-2-2 in their five matches. Tulsa have won their last two matches in league play but did lose to Oklahoma City in the Third Round of the US Open Cup. So momentum will likely be in the host's favor Saturday night.

Tulsa Roughnecks FC

Tulsa Roughnecks FC (3-4-2, 11pts) will host T2 and play them for the first time in both team's current history. But both teams have faced each other before, the last time being in July of 1982 when both were part of the NASL. 32 years later, in different forms, they get to face each other again.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TBT?src=hash">#TBT</a> to the final meeting between the Timbers and <a href="https://twitter.com/RoughnecksFC">@RoughnecksFC</a> as NASL foes on July 28, 1982, in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PDX?src=hash">#PDX</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TULvPOR?src=hash">#TULvPOR</a> <a href="http://t.co/j6O1104kH9">pic.twitter.com/j6O1104kH9</a></p>&mdash; Portland Timbers 2 (@TimbersFC2) <a href="https://twitter.com/TimbersFC2/status/604059359082123265">May 28, 2015</a></blockquote>

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Tulsa themselves are on the better run of form in league play having won their last two matches. Both were 1-0 away wins against Orange County Blues and Austin Aztex. And in addition to these two wins, their goalkeeper Zac Lubin was named to the USL Team of the Week for the third time this season. Their most recent match was hosting the Third Round US Open Cup match versus their in state rivals, Oklahoma City Energy. They lost the match in a close 1-0 affair with OKC moving on to the fourth round.

Tulsa are 1-2-1 at home, with their only victory coming against S2 in a high scoring 4-3 win. And with the same record as T2, they are only below T2 on virtue of goal difference. Both teams have conceded 13 goals while Tulsa have scored 8 to T2's 10. So anything could happen Saturday night.

And the weather will hopefully cooperate. Right now there are heavy thunderstorms in the area and a flash flood warning extending to Saturday night at 7pm local time. But Saturday's forecast is only a 20% chance of precipitation with the expected conditions to be cloudy all day and a high of 72. So unlikely that severe weather conditions disrupt the scheduled match and game time conditions should be pretty ideal.

Match Information

Watch it: Streamed live on Timbers.com/T2 and embedded in our T2 match thread

Kickoff: Saturday, May 30th, 5:30 pm pacific, at ONEOK Field in Tulsa, Oklahoma

Portland Timbers 2: 3-4-2, 11pts, 9th place in the USL Western Conference

Tulsa Roughnecks FC: 3-4-2, 11pts, 10th place in the USL Western Conference