Chance to play for Timbers makes Knighton's day

On loan from Revolution, former UNC Wilmington star eager for steady action

By Steve Brandon

The Portland Tribune, Jul 7, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (2 Reader comments)

Brad Knighton is the Portland Timbers' new goalkeeper, joining Jordan James and Steve Reese on the roster. He's on loan from the New England Revolution. He arrived in Portland on Wednesday night and is expected to start right away.

DAVID SILVERMAN / GETTY IMAGES

New Portland Timber goalkeeper Brad Knighton says he expects to start Thursday night’s exhibition match with Monarcas Morelia of Mexico, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“They’re throwing me into the fire, but it’s what I want,” he says. “This is definitely a good test. I’m glad we’ve got two exhibitions (Portland also will play Morelia on Sunday in Seattle) before the next league match (July 10 versus Puerto Rico).”

Knighton, 23, is 6-2 and “190 to 195” pounds. He comes to Portland on loan from Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution, where he was a backup last season and this year, playing in a total of eight reserve-squad games. He was born in Hickory, N.C., but grew up in Richmond, Va., and then starred for the Seahawks of North Carolina-Wilmington.

Knighton was on the bench for the Revolution as they beat the Richmond Kickers 3-0 Tuesday night in the third round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. That game, in New Britain, Conn., started two hours later because of bad weather. After a two-hour drive home, he got to bed at home in Franklin, Mass., at about 2 a.m., grabbed about four hours of sleep and then flew to Portland, arriving at 6 p.m. Wednesday. He got to his hotel about 45 minutes later.

First order of business was a walk, to stretch his legs.

He has met only one Timber player, reserve midfielder Arsene Oka, who was with New England last year.

Knighton spoke on the phone Tuesday with Portland coach/General Manager Gavin Wilkinson, who was eager to have him as a replacement for Ray Burse, the previous Timber starter recently recalled by injury-plagued FC Dallas.

“From what I’ve been told, I’m the starter here the rest of the season,” Knighton says.

Only one thing stands in the way of Knighton possibly running the table in goal for the Timbers — his Sept. 13 marriage in Wilmington to fiancé Britney, a nurse in Providence, R.I. They met in college and have been dating for about 28 months, and Knighton says he and his agent have worked things out so that the wedding can go on, even though the Timbers will finish the regular season with games Sept. 11 at home against Charleston and Sept. 20 at Carolina.

“We’ve been planning the wedding for seven or eight months, so it has to be that date — or I probably won’t be getting married to her,” he says.

The couple doesn’t plan to honeymoon until December or January, though, so Knighton should be able to fit in his big day without much, if any, interruption on the field.

He says he’s excited to play regularly and had been following Burse’s situation, with an eye on possibly coming to Portland.

“Our goalkeeper coach had mentioned something a couple of weeks back about Ray traveling back and forth, between Portland and Dallas,” he says. “So he gave the goalkeeper coach in Dallas a call and said if they ever needed Ray back in Dallas to call so we could throw my name in the pot (for Portland).

“I got out here as soon as I could. I thought it was a really good opportunity. There’s 16 games left (14 in league play). It’s a chance for me to get my name out there.

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