Sol make a game of it

Big-league soccer came to Santa Rosa on Tuesday night and its arrival was met with enthusiasm.

Before a crowd of about 2,000 at Santa Rosa High, the Portland Timbers, a professional team from the second tier of American soccer, beat the underdog Sonoma County Sol, 3-0, in the second round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

The outcome wasn’t a shocker. The Timbers’ roster, after all, featured players from eight countries, their starting lineup included seven players who have appeared on Major League Soccer rosters, and forward Takayuki Suzuki played in the 2002 World Cup for Japan.

In contrast, the Sol, an amateur team three rungs below the Timbers in American soccer’s pecking order, countered with players who had either grown up in Sonoma County or have ties to Sonoma State or Santa Rosa Junior College.

Given such disparate pedigrees, it wasn’t particularly surprising when Portland’s George Josten, a former All-American at Gonzaga, punched a left-footer past Sol goalkeeper Juan Sosa in the eighth minute of action. The Timbers’ Mandjou Keita, the former captain of Guinea’s U-23 national team, added two goals in the final three minutes to make the final score deceptively lopsided.

“I’m really proud the way we played,” said Sol left wing Eric Lafon, Sonoma State’s career assists leader. “We came out and we gave them hell. They are paid professionals and we are college kids or guys working jobs. We hung right with them.”

Timbers coach Gavin Wilkinson, whose team was playing its fourth road game, in four different states, in a week, echoed Lafon’s sentiments.

The loss dropped the Sol’s record to 11-1-3. But in defeat they played their signature game of the season.

“I think we had a few chances we should have put away in the first half, but we didn’t do it,” Wilkinson said. “Give them credit. They played their way into the game. That’s a very good team — very impressive. They came out and played. They didn’t sit back. It was closer than I would have liked.”

More surprising than the final score was the steady stream of supporters entering Ernie Nevers Field until midway through the first half.

Prior to the game, Sol coach Benjamin Ziemer was concerned about covering the costs — about $5,000 — of hosting the game.

But Tuesday night’s crowd — dotted by large packs of children in matching soccer uniforms — provided quite an economic stimulus for an organization on shaky financial footing in the offseason. Ziemer said the revenue from the game could erase the debt accrued during the Sol’s first six years of existence.

“That was the largest crowd I’ve ever played in front of,” said Sol defender Mickey Daly, a former All-American at SRJC who is playing at Cal State Los Angeles. “It was great to see Sonoma County supporting us. It made for a great atmosphere tonight.”

While the crowd was sizable, it was also eerily quiet for long stretches of the first half — as if rendered mute by a level of soccer foreign to Sonoma County.

A group of about 10 Timbers’ fans — which packed white-and-green team gear and an assortment of flags on their 500-mile trip from Oregon — unintentionally gave the locals a primer on how to cheer at a soccer match.

At various times, public address announcer Chris Ziemer urged the crowd to, well, clap.

“It is within U.S. Open Cup rules to cheer,” Ziemer announced.

But in the final 10 minutes, with the Timbers holding a 1-0 lead and the Sol mounting a variety of attacks, the decibel level increased as a game-tying goal appeared increasingly plausible.

For those moments it was big-league soccer with a big-league atmosphere in Santa Rosa.

The moment didn’t last. But the memory will.

“These young guys have played soccer all their lives and this type of support from the local community is so important to them,” Benjamin Ziemer said. “It was a great night for soccer.”