1985 – Western Alliance Challenge Series In 1985, F.C. Portland joined with three other independent clubs, the U.S. based
F.C. Seattle and
San Jose Earthquakes and the Canadian
Victoria Riptides in a home and away round robin tournament, known as the
Western Alliance Challenge Series. The four teams also played the Canadian
Edmonton Brick Men and the
Canada national team. The games against the Brick Men counted in the standings which determined the end of series champions. F.C. Portland had the honor of hosting the first game of the series, against Seattle. The game, played in Portland's Civic Stadium, attracted 2,906 fans. F.C. Portland also played a game against the
Houston Dynamos in
Houston.
1986 – Western Soccer Alliance After the success of 1985, the three U.S. teams elected to form a league, which they named the Western Soccer Alliance. While the Victoria Riptides opted out of the league, the
Edmonton Brick Men joined the alliance, along with the
Hollywood Kickers,
Los Angeles Heat and
San Diego Nomads. The teams continued the first year practice of playing outside teams (
Manchester City and
Dundee FC this year) with results counting in the alliance standings. F.C. Portland saw a significant improvement over the previous season. Behind the production of forwards
Brent Goulet (league leading 9 goals and 2 assists), and
Mark Miller (7 goals and 5 assists), the team finished second in the standings with a 6-6-2 record. At the time, Goulet played for
Warner Pacific College, a local school. He played with F.C. Portland as an amateur. In 1986, former Timbers player
Clive Charles began coaching the
University of Portland (U.P.) men's soccer team, bringing this team to national prominence. This led to an infusion of U.P. players into F.C. Portland in later years.
1987 – Brent Goulet MVP In 1987, Edmonton dropped from the alliance to join the
Canadian Soccer League and the Hollywood Kickers changed their name to the California Kickers. The league also reduced the number of games from 12 to 10. Despite the Brent Goulet's outstanding play, which led to his selection as the season MVP, F.C. Portland finished fourth in the standings and missed out on the alliance's first playoff, won by the
San Diego Nomads. At the end of the season, the team lost Goulet when he finished his four years at
Warner Pacific College and signed with British club
AFC Bournemouth.
1988 This year saw F.C. Portland drop to the bottom of the end of year standings despite once again having the alliance's leading scorer,
Scott Benedetti with 8 goals and no assists. At the time Benedetti was between his junior and senior year playing soccer for
Clive Charles at the
University of Portland. The alliance kept the same teams as the 1987 season, but played 12 games, including games against
Canadian Soccer League teams,
Calgary Kickers and
Vancouver 86ers. F.C. Portland finished 1-11. This year the alliance named an
All Star team. Ironically, not only did Portland have the alliance's top scorer, but also had its goalkeeper,
Todd Strobeck, named to the alliance's
All Star team.
1989 – New name: Portland Timbers In 1989, F.C. Portland went through several changes. First, Art Dixon, a local businessman, took control of F.C. Portland and renamed it the Portland Timbers. Dixon was a long time Timbers fan, holding season tickets from 1979 through the team's last season in 1982. Dixon brought more than a name change, he also injected money and a higher level of professionalism into the team, bringing former Timbers great
John Bain back as a player/coach. Then, the Western Soccer Alliance became the Western Soccer League (WSL). More importantly for Portland, the WSL added three new teams,
Real Santa Barbara,
Arizona Condors and
Sacramento Senators. To accommodate the new teams, the Western Soccer League split into two divisions – North and South. The Portland Timbers joined the
San Jose Earthquakes now known as the
San Francisco Bay Blackhawks, the
F.C. Seattle now known as the
Seattle Storm and the new
Sacramento Senators in the North Division. Portland made yet another wild swing in the standings from the previous season. Improving from 1-11, Portland finished the year at 11-5 and tied with the Blackhawks for the North Division lead. The Blackhawks won the division championship, and the playoff berth, based on goal differential. The team continued its tradition of placing its players on the end of year honors lists. Goalkeeper
Kasey Keller was selected as the league's MVP. Additionally, Portland placed Keller, midfielder/coach
John Bain and forward
Scott Benedetti on the WSL All Star team. At the time, Keller was also playing
NCAA soccer with the
University of Portland.
1990 – The final season In February 1990, the WSL announced it had reached a merger agreement with the
American Soccer League, which had teams along the east coast. The new league was named the
American Professional Soccer League. The APSL was split into East and West Conferences, both with North and South Divisions. The Portland Timbers remained in the North Division, which also had the
San Francisco Bay Blackhawks,
Seattle Storm and newly established
Salt Lake Sting and
Colorado Foxes. This year, Portland's final, the team finished with a 10-10 record and out of playoff contention. This was also the first year the team failed to garner any individual player honors. Its leading goal scorer,
Shawn Medved with 10 goals and 2 assists, was seventh on the league's scoring list.
Kasey Keller had also moved on after playing in the
1990 FIFA World Cup and then signing with British club
Millwall and
Scott Benedetti had transferred to Seattle. At the end of the season, the high hopes which had come with the merger between the WSL and APSL crashed. Over half of the teams from the 1990 season, including Portland, would not return for the 1991 season. Team owner Art Dixon folded the team, having lost more than $500,000 over the two years he owned the team. ==Coaches==