Timbers U-23s play host to Vancouver, visit Seattle this week

PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Timbers U-23s play host to Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-23 on Friday as part of the team’s final Health and Fitness School Day of the season, presented by Providence Sports Care Center, at JELD-WEN Field at 11 a.m. The Timbers U-23s then visit Seattle Sounders FC U-23 on Saturday, facing matches on back-to-back days this week.

Tickets for Friday’s match are $7 and available for purchase at the JELD-WEN Field box office. The day’s events feature pre-game health fair activities on the concourse at JELD-WEN Field as well as a special on-field presentation by Providence Health and Services; gates open at 9 a.m.

On Saturday, the Timbers U-23s take on Sounders FC U-23 at Tumwater High School in Tumwater, Wash., kickoff is set for 6 p.m.

The Timbers U-23s (4-0-0, 12pts) have opened the season on a four-game winning streak, defeating Whitecaps FC U-23 2-1 on the road in their last match May 26. Forward Clark Phillips and defender Chris Harms each scored their first goals of the season in the win over Vancouver, helping the team maintain its first-place position in the Premier Development League’s Northwest Division.

Friday’s match concludes the home-and-home season series between the Timbers U-23s and Whitecaps FC U-23 (2-2-2, 8pts). The Timbers U-23s are 5-1-1 all-time against Whitecaps FC U-23, including a 2-0-1 mark at home since 2009. In the Timbers U-23s' first Health and Fitness School Day this season on May 24, the team drew a PDL-record crowd of 8,029 to JELD-WEN Field.

Sounders FC U-23s (2-1-3, 9pts), previously named the Tacoma Tide, and Timbers U-23s square off for the first of two meetings in 2012 on Saturday. Saturday’s match is the Timbers U-23s’ second road match of the 2012 campaign.

Seattle and Vancouver played to a 3-3 draw on Wednesday in Tacoma, Wash., in the first match of the week for both sides.