In the first third of their first season, the Portland Hearts of Pine were a car in need of a tune-up. They were moving forward, but too many misfires left them with a 2-2-6 record and below the USL League One playoff line.

The Hearts revved up their attack in the middle third, earning 18 total points while going 5-2-3 to climb from 10th to seventh place in the 14-team league standings. Eight teams make the playoffs, and Portland, which has played the fewest league games, has a three-point cushion thanks to its three-game winning streak that has featured 10 goals.

“I think it’s just sticking to our principles from January. What the coach wants, everyone has bought in, and obviously the goals are going in,” said center back Kemali Green after a weekday training session. “That’s been the key, and I think everything is flowing in the right direction.”

That Portland would start slowly is not surprising. As an expansion team, every player was new to Maine, and with the exception of veteran captain Mikey Lopez, also new to coach Bobby Murphy. Lopez, a 13-year pro, played for Murphy in his youth days at St. Stephens Academy in Austin, Texas.

“It’s just being more direct, being more lethal when we get in front of goal. We missed a lot of chances at the beginning of the year, even though we were creating a lot of chances, and now we’re starting to convert them,” Lopez said. “It’s what Bobby and the coaches have been preaching since the beginning and it’s starting to finally click for us.”

The final third of Portland’s season starts Saturday with a home match against the league-leading Chattanooga Red Wolves (12-2-8). Chattanooga also started slowly this season, going 1-1-4 in its first six games. Chattanooga beat Portland on June 7 in Tennessee, 2-1. Chattanooga is 9-0-3 since a June 21 loss to the Greenville Triumph.

Scouting report

Chattanooga has scored the third most goals (34), has allowed the second fewest (19), and has the most shutouts (10) in USL League One. An interesting statistical tidbit is that Chattanooga is last in passing accuracy.

Murphy, who often asserts that possession is soccer’s most misleading statistics, said the passing stat reflects what makes the Red Wolves successful.

“They’ll get 10 players, 11 players behind the ball and they’ll bunker in,” Murphy said. “They don’t value the ball at all. They just try to be really hard to beat and they’ll play for set pieces or a counterattack here or there, and it’s worked for them. Obviously.”

Lopez locking in

Lopez is coming back from Achilles surgery that cost him the 2024 season and a tweaked a knee once he joined the Hearts. His playing time was limited early in the season, but his increased on-field presence and his ability to win duels on the pitch and in the air, combined with his versatility to play midfield and right back, are part of the reason Portland has improved.

Lopez said friends who had suffered the same injury told him it would take eight months after he started playing to feel totally recovered.

“I’m starting to feel more comfortable with myself. I don’t know if I’m at the same level I used to be, but I’m getting closer,” Lopez said.

Kamara making big impact

Standing 5-foot-3, JayTee Kamara often looks up to kids getting his autograph after games. But he’s been making a big impression on the field, particularly in the last two games when he’s come off the bench and provided a goal and an assist in both contests. Kamara now has four goals and two assists in 15 league games, giving Portland a right-side counter to leading scorer Ollie Wright (6 goals, 6 assists in USL1 play) who can take on and get past defenders.

The 23-year-old from Sierra Leone who scored four goals for Louisville FC of the USL Championship in 2021 has also shown an increased willingness to engage defensively. Murphy said Kamara, who has started 10 games this season, is about to see his playing time increase. “JayTee needed to focus on some things and I think he’s done that, and he’ll get starts the rest of the way,” Murphy said.

Notes

Seven of Portland’s final 10 USL1 games will be at Fitzpatrick. The club’s average paid attendance is 5,731, well above the league record of 4,721 set by the Richmond Kickers in 2023. … Azaad Liadi, Portland’s top scorer in the first half of the season (6 goals in 15 games), might be able to make a late-season return from double sports hernia surgery, Murphy said. … Wright was named USL1 Player of the Month for August. He is tied for second-most assists in the league.