In heartbreaking fashion, the Portland Hearts of Pine season ended late Sunday night in Spokane, Washington.

Maine’s first-year professional men’s soccer team was on the verge of going to the USL League One championship when it gave up a tying goal in added time at the end of the second overtime, then lost in the seventh round of penalty kicks.

Spokane Velocity won the match, 2-2 (6-5) behind goalkeeper Carlos Merancio, who turned aside Portland’s potential game-winning fifth penalty kick by Jay Tee Kamara and then the seventh PK taken by Michel Poon-Angeron.

Portland finished the season with an overall record in league play of 12-8-12. Spokane (16-7-9), the league runner-up last year in its first season, advanced to this weekend’s championship game at No. 1 One Knoxville.

Portland, the seventh seed in the tournament, looked ready to upset No. 3 Spokane when Kamara scored two minutes into the first overtime on a brilliant goal, finishing a long run just before multiple Velocity players could converge on him.

It was Portland’s first lead of the match. The Hearts defense, under duress for most of the second overtime, cracked in the 122nd minute of play.

Spokane’s Marky Hernandez slid a pass to Nil Vinyals, who found a gap in the center of the box and delivered a quick strike to the left side of the goal past Portland goalie Hunter Morse.

Penalty kicks start with a best-of-five format. If after five rounds the match is still tied, then each successive round can determine the outcome.

Portland got the first advantage when Morse made a kick save on Spokane’s third attempt. The Hearts’ top scorer and primary penalty kick taker Ollie Wright had been subbed out of the game in the 114th minute, making him unable to participate in the penalty kicks.

With successful strikes from Jake Keegan, Sega Coulibaly, Azaad Liadi, and Masashi Wada, Portland had the opportunity to win the match if Kamara converted.

Instead, Merancio read Kamara’s attempt expertly, dove to his right and firmly deflected the waist-high shot.

Cameron Miller for Spokane and Nathan Messer for Portland each made the sixth shot, with Messer’s going into the goal even though Merancio got a hand on it and changed its direction.

Spokane’s Jalen Crisler cleanly made his shot for a 6-5 edge and Merancio won the game with his save against Poon-Angeron.

The teams were tied after regulation play.

Luis Gil scored in first-half added time, knocking a shot into the right panel of the goal after collecting a header off a long throw-in.

Portland tied the game on an equally well-placed shot by Wright in the 53rd minute. Wright collected a defensive header that failed to clear the area and directed a shot that nicked in off the right post.

The dramatic loss ends an eventful and successful first season for the Hearts of Pine, a club first publicly conceptualized more than six years ago when founder Gabe Hoffman-Johnson and representatives of the USL announced an intention to bring pro soccer to Portland.

The first game, a 4-0 U.S. Open Cup win, was played March 20 at Lewiston High, drawing well over 3,000 fans. The fan support quickly made the Hearts of Pine a hot topic in American soccer circles.

The club set a league record for season ticket sales before it ever played a game at Fitzpatrick Stadium, which had seen over $2.5 million in club paid renovations.

At Fitzy the club sold out its entire first season, setting USL1 records for average attendance (5,808) and single-game attendance (6,440).