Hunter Morse hears the Portland Hearts of Pine fans when they chant “He’s our Brick Wall.” And Morse likes it.

Especially this past Saturday night. About 150 Hearts of Pine supporters were in East Ridge, Tennessee, singing Morse’s praises during and after his nine-save shutout in a 1-0 win over the second-seeded Chattanooga Red Wolves in the USL League One quarterfinals.

“I did hear it. I like the chant and it’s good, especially on the road,” Morse said. “All those fans just showing their support across the country pretty much. It’s a great feeling.”

But the Hearts’ goalkeeper is much more than an immovable barrier. As he showed Saturday, the 6-foot-3 Morse is a mobile athlete who jumps, dives, punches and catches in the single-minded pursuit of keeping the ball from entering the net.

Morse and his defensive unit will try to do the same thing at 9 p.m. Sunday when No. 7 Portland (12-7-12) goes to No. 3 Spokane Velocity (15-7-9) for a semifinal (ESPN+). There is an official watch party at Portland’s State Theatre. Tickets are $20.

Portland beat Spokane, 6-1, in the penultimate game of the regular season with a league-record 6,440 fans at Fitzpatrick Stadium.

“I think we just kind of have to forget about (the 6-1 win), but not fully,” Morse said. “It’s always harder to beat the same team twice. Obviously, they’re going to throw at us some new challenges and we’ll do the same to them.”

Morse has been the first-year franchise’s primary keeper all season. A native of Belleville, Michigan, a town of about 4,000 residents a half-hour west of Detroit, he leads USL1 in saves (92) and is third in save percentage (72.4%) among the league’s primary keepers.

“I think we have the best keeper in the league,” said forward Jake Keegan, who has played in USL1 since its formation in 2019. Keegan made that comment before Morse made his career- and franchise-record nine saves.

Several of Morse’s saves against Chattanooga came after Ollie Wright’s 55th-minute goal. The showstopper was a diving right-handed push in the 96th minute to parry a Chattanooga header destined for the bottom right corner.

Wright said the Hearts of Pine have emphasized the unit over the individual, “but I think there’s some days you just have to take your hat off to individual brilliance. Me and (left back) Nathan Messer looked at each other about four times in disbelief after Hunter’s saves.”

Morse said the key save may have been his first, when he had to dive hard to his right to deflect a shot from distance in the 11th minute. Hearts defender Mo Mohamed then got his foot on the ball to thwart a rebound attempt.

“It just set the tone a little bit and gave me a lot of confidence in that game,” Morse said. “It’s not really that you want to have to make a tough save so early, but sometimes it just feels good to get it out of the way and just get confidence.”

Morse is a third-year professional player. He was drafted by FC Cincinnati in the 2023 MLS Super Draft in the second round (51st overall). Morse played four seasons at Michigan State University, then had a standout grad-school season at Western Michigan University. At Western, he was the 2022 Mid-American Conference Goalkeeper of the Year, starting every game in a 16-3-2 season that included two NCAA Tournament road wins before a Sweet Sixteen loss.

With FC Cincinnati, Morse played in 12 games over two seasons for the club’s MLS NextPro team. It was Morse’s coach in Cincinnati, Ryan Coulter, who suggested that an expansion club in Maine might be a good fit for Morse. Coulter is friends with Hearts of Pine goalie coach Yuta Nomura.

“Ryan Coulter and Yuta, they know each other. I trusted Ryan and Ryan said this was a good choice, so I chose it,” Morse said. “It’s been a great choice.”