Designed to help ensure the long-term stability of professional soccer in North America, United Soccer Leagues announced the merger of its First and Second Divisions into a single league property for 2011 - USL PRO. Team owners and league officials are meeting in Tampa, Florida today to lay the groundwork for the 2011 debut of USL PRO, which will be governed by team owners and present the highest level of competition in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean outside of Major League Soccer (MLS).
 

With four regular-season matches remaining, the Portland Timbers have secured one of the eight postseason berths in the USSF Division-2 Pro League. The Timbers became the next team in the league to clinch a playoff spot following results from around the league over the weekend.

Former W-League standout and Spanish international Veronica Boquete is already having an impact for her new club, Women’s Professional Soccer’s Chicago Red Stars. This week, after scoring a goal and adding a pair of assists in her first two starts, she was named the WPS Player of the Week.

Eddie Johnson and Jamie Watson connected two times on Saturday night at House Park, rocketing the Aztex back into first place with a 2-0 victory over the NSC Minnesota Stars. In the 24th minute, Johnson struck for the first time in the game after receiving a through ball from Watson that set up a one-on-one against the Minnesota (7-12-7) keeper. After faking to the right, Johnson dodged back outside and left the helpless keeper with nothing to do but watch him put it in the back of the net.

On a celebratory night at PGE Park, midfielder Ryan Pore scored a late game-winning goal and goalkeeper Steve Cronin logged his 10th shutout of the season as the Portland Timbers downed the Puerto Rico Islanders 1-0 before 15,418 on Thursday. The sellout crowd witnessed and celebrated the Timbers’ regular season-home finale and final home match at PGE Park as a member of the USSF Division-2 Pro League. With their fifth sellout of the season, the Timbers set a new modern-franchise record for regular-season attendance at 155,006 and welcomed their one millionth fan to the venue since 2001. 

The Austin Aztex added one last piece to their roster on the last day of the transfer window, signing Charleston Battery midfielder Ian Fuller for the remainder of the season. Fuller scored the championship-winning goal for the Battery in the 52nd minute, who finished the season as the top team in the league with an 11-4-5 record and went on to take home the Battery’s third championship.