The recently-relocated Portland Timbers U23s have announced the hiring of Corban University Head Men's Soccer Coach Aaron Lewis as their new Head Coach for the upcoming season. Lewis was the first NAIA player drafted in to MLS when he was selected by Dallas with the 35th Pick in the 1999. He is no stranger to the U23s program, as he had an administrative role with the club from 2010-2013. He has been the head coach at Corban since 2013, amassing a 65-14-4 record, including 2 regular season Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Championships and 3 CCC Tournament Championships, while making the NAIA National Tournament four times. He was also the Head Coach with Vancouver Victory of the Evergreen Premier League for 2015-2016, winning the league championship last season.
Ok, Timbers. That was a pretty good goal.
According to Chris Henderson, the Thorns will play closed scrimmage against the University of Oregon on April 8.
I wrote a thing for MLSsoccer.com on Blanco. TLDR: Blanco is fitting right in and also he doesn't care about the cold.
Sports Illustraited's Alexander Abnos drew up this handy flow chart breaking down how MLS teams bring in players. It couldn't be more simple!
SB Nation's site for the United States Men's and Women's national teams, Stars and Stripes FC, has been all over the USMNT January camp and they have an opinion as to just who showed well against Serbia and Jamaica. Hint: not surprisingly, a certain Portland Timber shows up on this list.
Angels on Parade -- formerly Goats on Parade -- catches up with Jorge Villafana after his first appearance with the USMNT.
Darlington Nagbe with the start today!
JJ Duke from the Women's Soccer Zone interviewed Lussi and her coach. From the article: "I’m very intense, all the time, in almost everything that I do." Lussi’s description of her playing characteristics will no doubt endear her to the Portland fans right from the start. In her playing days for the Tigers, she was someone who would always be active right from the opening whistle. She would scrap for loose balls in the front line while terrorizing defenses with blazing pace, all while possessing a deft scoring touch inside the box.