The Portland Timbers displayed a grittier, tougher and more physical personality during their 1-1 draw in a preseason game against San Jose Monday night in front of 16,118 fans at Jeld-Wen Field.

The Timbers (3-0-2) remained undefeated in preseason play. They finished with a draw in the game despite missing a number of players due to injuries, national team call-ups and other factors.

Midfielder Kalif Alhassan scored the Timbers' lone goal and centerback Hanyer Mosquera's own goal provided the Earthquakes with their score.

"We try to win as many games as we possibly can," Portland coach John Spencer said. "We're pretty happy with the way the preseason has gone so far."

Portland's Kris Boyd did not play in the game. The high-profile and high-priced forward has yet to make his game debut after twisting his ankle during shooting drills on Thursday. Boyd has not participated in a full training session since Thursday and the Timbers are taking an extremely cautious approach.

Spencer said Boyd probably won't play in the Timbers' game against Chivas USA Thursday while he continues to work on game conditioning and nursing the ankle.

"He's a little bit short of match fitness. Hopefully he'll be good to go next Sunday or Monday," Spencer said. "We've got to get him match fit, and you only get that by (playing in) games."

The Timbers were anything but cautious in a very physical game by preseason standards. The Earthquakes - called for 17 fouls in the game - came into the game and immediately started throwing their collective weight around with a bunch of hard challenges and tackles. The Timbers, who won the MLS "Fair Play" award in 2011, seemed determined to avoid winning that award for the second consecutive year by engaging in rugged play and a willingness to start a confrontation.

"The guys put up a fight. We have some really tough guys here," right outside defender Lovel Palmer said. "We don't get to show that aggressive side (often), but we definitely have it. San Jose brought it to us and we responded."

Center midfielder and captain Jack Jewsbury and a San Jose player collided in the midfield and tempers quickly flared. Jewsbury and the player started pushing, shoving and slapping hands away.

"It got a little chippy," Jewsbury said. "It's good to get that going and let everybody know that even though it's a preseason game, we want to win these games, especially at home."

What was different about the Timbers is Jewsbury's teammates immediately rushed in to provide backup and support during the incident. Last year, when defender Mike Chabala was leveled by Houston's Danny Cruz in a borderline-dirty play Oct. 14, not one Portland player came to his defense.

"No matter who it is that's getting into a skirmish, whenever one of our guys is involved, we're going to come and back each other up," Jewsbury said.

The confrontation occurred about 14 minutes after Alhassan's goal, a curling shot from the left side and just inside the box in the 15th minute. The goal was the second-year player's first goal in any MLS competition. The goal should give Alhassan, who has struggled with his fitness and passing while sinking on the depth chart during the preseason, a little more confidence.

"I thought (the goal) was a tremendous piece of skill," Spencer said. "I get on him (when) he doesn't do things right, but tonight, he put in one of (his) best performances in a Timbers' uniform."

The goal may make Spencer feel a little better about the outside midfielders. Spencer is demanding that the group, which scored just two goals during the 2011 regular season, produce more goals, assists and scoring chances. Alhassan's goal, combined with Eric Alexander getting forward - he had one shot on goal and made two other penetrating runs - is what the coach has been waiting for from the wing players.

The backline, particularly first-year centerbacks Mosquera and Andrew Jean-Baptiste, looked nervous playing in front of the Timbers fans for the first time. Baptiste, the rookie from Connecticut, attempted a lazy pass that was easily intercepted and eventually led to an own goal by Mosquera to tie the game at 1-1 in the 59th minute.

"The communication was sometimes not there. It wasn't as a tightknit group as it (would be) halfway through the season," defender Mike Chabala said. "But there was a lot of good players who made some good plays. There's a lot to build off of."

Notes

The Timbers continue playing in the four-team preseason tournament Thursday against Chivas USA at Jeld-Wen Field. …Forward Darlington Nagbe came on as a substitute in the 60th minute. Nagbe has been slowed by a sore right ankle and looked like he aggravated the ankle after a hard tackle by San Jose defender Steven Beitshour. But Nagbe got up slowly, but shook off the play and made two solid runs down the field. "It stung a little, but it didn't last long," Nagbe said. …Defenders Mamadou "Futty" Danso, Rodney Wallace and Steve Purdy missed the game due to national team call-ups. …Midfielder Franck Songo'o is in Spain to acquire his visa and did not play.

-- Geoffrey C. Arnold; follow him on Twitter.