PDL championship in Portland, Chill to play Baton Rouge

The Thunder Bay Chill are headed to Portland, Ore.

As expected, on Sunday the Premier Development League announced the Portland U23s, undefeated and untied in 18 regular season and playoff games, will host the league championship next weekend. The Chill earned one of four spots by virtue of a weekend sweep against Forest City London and the Michigan Buck on home turf, taking the Central Conference championship.

Thunder Bay will take on No. 3 seed Baton Rouge in the opening round on Friday, while No. 1 Portland will tangle with the No. 4 Reading United AC in the other semifinal.

The winners will play in Saturday’s national final, which will be televised live on Fox Soccer Channel. The consolation match will go at 1 p.m.

No team has yet to finish with an unblemished record through the postseason in the 15-year history of the league.

The Chill won the PDL title two summers ago, defeating the Laredo Heat in Laredo, Texas.