Thursday, October 22, 2009

WASHINGTON DC -- Portland Timbers goalkeeper Steve Cronin capped a whirlwind week in the best way he knew how: he pitched a shutout. The shutout ended a hectic few days for Cronin, who thought his season ended once Vancouver eliminated Portland from the USL-1 playoffs on Oct. 4.

It would have, except for the fact that United found themselves in a goalkeeping bind and turned to Cronin to fix the situation.

Cronin joined United last Monday on loan from Portland under the "extreme hardship" exemption as a replacement for injured starter (and former Los Angeles teammate) Josh Wicks, practiced with the team for the first time last week and earned the starting nod against the Crew based on his work in training.

Instead of letting the pressure of making his first appearance in perhaps United's biggest match of the year weigh on him, Cronin delivered a calm and assured performance for a D.C. side crying out for some stability in between the posts.

Full story on MLSnet.com [+]