As Portland Timbers fans lament the presence of the archrival Seattle Sounders in Saturday's MLS Cup final, a Portland State University associate physics professor has come up with a way for Timbers fans to savor last year's good fortune and MLS championship.

Ralf Widenhorn has thoroughly examined the double-post penalty kick miss in the 2015 playoff game between the Timbers and Sporting Kansas City. And he published an article in October's edition of "The Physics Teacher," the main journal of the American Association of Physics Teachers.

Widenhorn undertook this investigation in part because he likes to meld the wonky with the mainstream, having staged science-as-magic shows in Portland. He's also the faculty adviser for PSU's Science Outreach Society, a student group that gives science presentations at local schools and the community. He's also a sports fan.

The Timbers beat Sporting Kansas City 7-6 after an epic penalty kick shootout in the knockout round of the playoffs. Among the 22 penalty kicks, Sporting Kansas City's Saad Abdul-Salaam saw his shot bounce off two posts before ricocheting out.

The Timbers went on to win the 2015 MLS Cup playoff run.

Widenhorn's study, using trigonometry and algebra more than physics, shows how close the Timbers were to not making it past the knockout round.

The five-page study is full of charts and formulas examining the trajectory of the ball, the distance traveled, the space between the posts, the post radius, the ball radius and other data. It also includes this phrase near its conclusion:

"The penalty literally missed the goal by less than the width of a hair!"

Widenhorn, 42, has lived in Portland nearly half his life and is originally from Sipplingen, Germany, about halfway between Stuttgart and Zurich, Switzerland. He grew up as a fan of FC Bayern Munich but has switched allegiances to the less glittery SC Freiburg.

But he also lives just seven blocks from Providence Park. He's attended plenty of Timbers games and heard the roar during and after the Oct. 29, 2015, game against Kansas City.

"I watched the shootout," Widenhorn said about why he undertook his study, "and I wanted to know, how close was it?"

--Allan Brettman

503-294-5900

@allanbrettman