SPRINGFIELD, OR— (Timbers U23 release) On a day that saw Calgary tie early in the day against Victoria, opening the door of opportunity for the Timbers U23s to once again control their own destiny, the Timbers U23s seized the moment and dominated Lane United FC on Sunday night, 3-0, capturing the 2017 USL PDL Northwest Division Championship. For the Timbers U23s, the Northwest Division Title marked the second in the team’s history, with the other title coming during the Timbers U23 undefeated 2010 season.

The Timbers U23s will now host Calgary Foothills FC on Tuesday, July 16, at 7 p.m. at McCulloch Stadium in a playoff match. The two teams finished tied on points in the final Northwest Division standings, but because of owning the tie-breaker via goal differential in head-to-head contests, the Timbers U23s finished as the Division Champions.

“Today I can’t help but recall some of the difficult moments this team endured and persevered through to put them in place to make this happen,” said Timbers U23 head coach Aaron Lewis. “I’m proud of the mentality they’ve brought to every situation thus far, and we’re all very excited to continue on with this ride together. We can’t wait to see our supporters again on Tuesday.”

Willie Spurr opened the scoring in the 26th minute of play when he received a pass in the middle of the box and slotted his shot into the bottom-left corner to give the Timbers U23s a 1-0 advantage.

Not long after, Benji Michel doubled the lead for the Timbers U23s when he stole the ball from the Lane United back line, took one touch in towards goal and then blasted his shot into the left-side netting.

📆 MARK YOUR CALENDARS!! As the @USLPDL Northwest Division Champions, the Timbers U23s will host Calgary on Tuesday night at 7pm in playoffs! pic.twitter.com/9Jr5QNgUMS — Portland Timbers U23 (@TimbersU23) July 17, 2017

In the second half, the teams went back and forth, but the Timbers U23 backline did a quality job of keeping Lane United’s chances to a minimum, not allowing any clean looks at goal for the entirety of the contest.

The dagger came late in the match when Alex Segovia penetrated forward towards goal and slotted a no-look through ball to Timur Zhividze, and Zhividze took a touch, cut inside and ripped his shot past the goalkeeper and into the back of the net to make it 3-0.

From that point on, the Timbers U23s (8-2-4) closed out the contest with dominant possession and almost made it 4-0 on a couple of occasions before finishing off Lane United FC for the three-goal triumph.

Ticket sales for Tuesday night’s Timbers U23 playoff game go on sale on Monday morning at 10 a.m. and will also be available for purchase at the gate on Tuesday. CLICK HERE to purchase your ticket now and secure your spot for Tuesday’s contest. Season ticket holders will also have to purchase a new ticket for Tuesday night’s USL PDL playoff match.

Click here for a full look at the 2017 Timbers U23 schedule.

For more information about everything Timbers U23, head to TimbersU23.com

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