Ollie Wright has embraced his new soccer home. And the Portland Hearts of Pine fans have certainly welcomed the joyful play of their team’s leading scorer.

But even a five-year professional veteran needs a touch of home, a connection to their youth, to be at their best. Twice this season, that’s been the case for the 26-year-old Wright, who grew up in London, five minutes away from Heathrow Airport.

The most recent instance came Saturday. While Wright and his teammates were preparing for the franchise’s first USL League One playoff game at Chattanooga Red Wolves, Wright wrote the words “Never Forgotten. R.I.P. Beano,” on his undershirt. It was the two-year anniversary of the death of Wright’s childhood friend, Ryan “Beano” Lynch, who died shortly after receiving an unexpected diagnosis that he had leukemia.

“He took himself into the hospital thinking it was a bad flu or something and got diagnosed a day or two later. It all happened so quickly. It came as a shock,” Wright said.

When Wright scored his 12th goal of the season in the 55th minute, he tugged up his game jersey and gripped it in his teeth to reveal the personal message.

“That was super special to me, to be able to score and dedicate the goal to him,” Wright said. “He was an avid follower of my journey, would watch my games and keep up to date. I miss him dearly, but it was special to be able to honor him with that goal.”

The goal, coming off a nicely weighted pass on a give-and-go with Jake Keegan, and Hunter Morse’s nine-save shutout propelled seventh-seeded Portland to a 1-0 win against the second-ranked Red Wolves.

Portland (12-7-12) advances to the semifinals and will play at last season’s runner-up, the third-seeded Spokane Velocity (15-7-9), at 9 p.m. Sunday (ESPN+). The other semifinal pits No. 4 FC Naples, also a first-year club, at No. 1 One Knoxville on Saturday. The winners will play the championship match at the highest-remaining seed the weekend of Nov. 14-16.

Portland center back Sega Coulibaly started 42 MLS games for the Los Angeles Galaxy. He says Wright has the rare qualities to be a game changer.

“It’s not everyone who can make the difference, take the chances, and to have the tranquility to make the good decision and then to make the good shot or the good pass,” Coulibaly said. “I hope he can make the difference in the next two games.”

FRUSTRATION EARLY IN SEASON

Wright has been a mainstay at left wing since the Hearts of Pine’s first match, a 4-0 U.S. Open Cup win March 20 at Lewiston High. It was evident immediately that Wright and left back Nathan Messer could forming a dynamic two-man attack on the left side, and that has been the most consistent part of Portland’s attack this season.

Messer says the connection was instant between the two: “Ollie has the great quality of having the vision where he could see exactly where I wanted the ball early on, and he has the ability to put it there.”

But Wright struggled to finish plays early on. He would frequently find space in prime offensive areas, only to send a pass a wee bit off target or a shot well wide or high of the goal. Through 11 games, Wright had one assist and zero goals.

“I feel like he was frustrated with himself,” Messer said. “I always thought it was kind of unwarranted. I thought he was playing really well.”

THE BREAKTHROUGH

Wright’s father, Roy, is a former semipro footballer in England.

“His claim to fame is that he’s better than me at soccer,” Ollie Wright said. “He played at a decent level. He scored a lot of goals. … He’s been so supportive of me since I was a kid. One hundred percent, I would not be where I am without his support.”

Roy Wright tries to make an annual trip to the United States to see one of his son’s matches. This year, it was May 31, when Portland hosted Detroit City FC of the USL Championship. Wright scored his first goal of the season in a 4-2 USL Jagermeister Cup win.

“He got the first one, in front of his dad,” Messer said. “He finished that one bottom corner. When he got that, I felt like the world became his oyster, basically.”

Wright has been on a tear ever since. Two games later, he scored his first three USL1 goals in a 3-1 home win against Union Omaha on June 15.

Over the last 27 matches, including non-league play, Wright has 12 goals and eight assists. His 10 goals and eight assists in USL1 games are tied for third in the league in goal involvement (goals and assists).

Up next is Spokane, a team Portland beat 6-1 in the penultimate regular-season game. Wright had a goal and an assist.

“That 6-1 game is kind of out of our minds now,” Wright said. “We know that’s not likely to happen again. We also know we can beat anyone on our day, that’s Spokane included.”