A Poster Created by the Department of Tourism to Encourage Canadians to Visit Maine This Summer.
On a night that started festive and ended feisty, Portland Hearts of Pine defeated nine-man Halifax Wanderers 2-1 this evening, courtesy of a first-half goal by Mickey Reilly and a stoppage-time stunner by Ollie Wright according to a press release received late this evening.from the Hearts.
The match was Portland’s first-ever international friendlly and saw the Boys of Maine take on their neighbors to the north, Canadian Premier League side Halifax. The evening got under way in suitably celebratory fashion, with local Acadian musician Robert Sylvan performing both countries’ national anthems before Governor Janet Mills joined the teams on the field for the coin toss, flanked by school children holding both nations’ flags.
Lewiston native Khalid Hersi and new signings Sega Coulibaly and Noah Kvife earned their first starts of the season. Hearts came out on the front foot eager to make an impact in front of the sold-out crowd of 5,645. Portland opened the scoring in the 18th minute when Reilly forced a turnover outside the penalty area , collected the loose ball and drove a low shot into the bottom far corner of the goal.
Hearts took the advantage into the break, but Halifax knotted the match up at a goal apiece in the 57th minute when Jefferson Alphonse sprung Tavio Ciocarelli with a beautiful long ball down the middle of the field. Alphonse collected the ball in stride, then rocketed a powerful shot past Kash Oladapo and into the back of the net.
Two minutes later Bobby Murpahy rung the changes for Portland, taking advantage of the friendly’s unlimited substitutions to bring Mikey Lopez, Kamali Green, Patrick Langlois, Michael Pooh-Angeron, Ollie Wright, Titus Washington and Jay Tee Kamara all on at the same time.
As the sun set over Fort Fitzy both sides dialed up the intensity in search of a match winner and all notions of the match being a “friendly” began to go out the window.
In the 78th minute, Halifax’s Jeremy Gagnon-Lapare was shown his second yellow card of the match after elbowig Titus Washington in the face, earning the Wanderers player a red card and an early trip to the locker room.
Two minutes into stoppage time, a Hearts corner caroned around the Halifax penalty area before falling at the feet of Wright who put his laces through the ball and blasted it past Wanderers goal keeper Aiden Rushernas. That turned out to be Rushenas’ last game action of the night as the crowd roared in unbridled delight at the late goal, a melee broke out in the penalty area, the shot-stopper waded into the fray and shoved referee Andrew Porada, earning him a straight red card.
Minutes later Porada blew his whistle for full-time, bringing an end to a spirited friendly that saw the home team come out on top and whet the home fans’ appetites for potential future matchups in the burgeoning international rivalry.
According to coach Bobby Murphy:”……………………….I think the value of the club is that you see us growing. You see us reaching out to a similar–I’m not an expert in Maine and maritime Canada relations, but similar cultures right? Who are geographically isolated, who can now help each other grow right? And I hope this is the first stage of that, and I think it will be. I think everybody’s encouraged by tonight. I think it’ll continue to be something that we will look at and find a way to help blossom and that’s what this whole kind of journey is about. …………………………………………….”
Governor Janet T. Mills (D) arranged this competition in an earlier visit to Halifax in her effort to repair relations between the two neighbors and strengthen cross-border relationships. For more, please visit post dated June 16, 2025 on her planned visit to our neighbors to the North.. Please also visit post dated July 22, 2025 herein in which the details of the Wanderers visit to Portland were detailed.