The visiting Rochester Rhinos had not scored in their first two games of the 2008 season, and were looking for an early goal as they did a very good job of keeping possession, and earned a few early corners, but none threatened the Timbers goal. Former Timber right-side midfielder Luke Kreamalmeyer, who was listed on the lineup sheet as a defender, slotted in at his normal position on the right side of midfield from the opening whistle, and did a good job at producing many deep runs. One of those almost paid off for the Rhinos in the 8th minute when one of his crosses was knocked down into the path of Rhinos midfielder Mauricio Salles, whose blast from 10 yards out was wide right.

In the 10th minute, Rochester was awarded a free kick just outside the top of the Timbers box, and a low shot by Salles got through to Timbers goalkeeper Ray Burse, who smothered the shot, and would be his only save on the night.

Two minutes later, the Timbers would get their first shot on goal when a high header from Cameron Knowles was tracked down easily by Rochester goalkeeper Scott Vallow.

Though Rochester was still keeping most of the possession, they were not able to threaten the Timbers goal as their attack would fail in the final third, and the next good scoring chance would be the Timbers’ in the 20th minute after Vallow was forced to clear a pass-back out of bounds after a lazy pass from his teammate, and on the throw-in, a cross from Andrew Gregor was headed by Chris Brown to Miguel Guante, whose scissor shot was wide right. The Timbers had their best possession of the first half during the middle of the half, but were having the same problem as the Rhinos: keeping good possession, but failing to get a shot on net.

The Timbers had one more good chance in the first half, in the 28th minute, when a cross from Scot Thompson went through the Rhinos box, and Kiki Lara’s header was wide left.

The rest of the half would have possession dominated by Rochester, though they were still having success attacking down the right side with Kreamalmeyer, but could not put any shots on net as the Timbers defense effectively cleared any cross. But in the final few minutes of the half, the Rhinos would havea few good chances, the first in the 44th minute when a nice pass found Salles open from about 25 yards out, but his shot was well over the Timbers goal. Just a few seconds later, the Rhinos had maybe their best scoring chance of the entire match when Hamed Diallo fought his way through the Timbers defense and had a brief one-on-one with the Timbers keeper, but could not put the shot on goal as Burse charged off his line, and the shot was wide right and hit the side netting instead. The half would end in a scoreless tie.

Two minutes into the second half, the Timbers would have a good scoring chance as Brown and Takayuki Suzuki played a nice series of passes until Suzuki had a good look from near the top of the Rhinos box, but hit his shot well right of goal.

After trading yellow cards in the 56th and 57th minute, first on a hard tackle by Suzuki on Kreamalmeyer, then a retaliatory foul on Suzuki by Leslie Fitzpatrick only seconds later, the Timbers continued to control much of the possession, but neither team would have a good scoring chance through the middle part of the second half.

As the match entered the final 15 minutes, the Rhinos seemed to be tiring and the Timbers started to dominate play, and for the rest of the match the Rhinos were putting six players behind the ball, attempting to preserve the road draw. In the 77th minute, the first of several chances was started by a run across the top of the box by Suzuki, who dropped the ball to Bryan Little, who didn’t get much on a low shot that Vallow would smother at the post.

One minute later, the Timbers had a chance that seemed easier to score than to miss, when a ball from Leonard Griffin into the box was headed by Suzuki, then by Gregor, and fell to the foot of Brown, wide-open only seven yards out, but his shot missed so badly to the right that it was almost nearer to the flag than the post.

Two minutes later, Brown had another good scoring chance when Scot Thompson made a nice pass into Brown’s run, but his shot from in a crowd of Rhinos defenders went wide right.

After being on their heels for much of the second half, the Rhinos would get their only threat to the Timbers goal in the 86th minute, when a free kick by Kreamalmeyer was headed well over the bar by Ze Roberto.

For the remainder of the match, the Rhinos would be packed in tight in their defensive third trying to protect the scoreless tie, and though the Timbers had a few late free kicks in the Rhinos half of the field, and two very late corner kicks, the Timbers were never able to punch through the Rhinos back-line to threaten Vallow’s goal, and the match would be a scoreless 0-0 draw at the final whistle.

Ray Burse recorded just the one save in the shutout for Portland, while Scott Vallow had five saves in earning his shutout for the Rhinos.