There were 11,789 witnesses to that reality on Sunday at PGE Park.

The Portland Timbers created enough scoring chances to fill several games, but when they could not finish any of them, their season ended in heartbreak.

The Atlanta Silverbacks outscored the Timbers 3-1 in a penalty-kick tiebreaker to advance to the United Soccer Leagues First Division championship match at Seattle. The PKs were needed after the teams battled through 120 scoreless minutes.

"It's devastating to have it come down to penalties," defender Cameron Knowles said. "But at the end of the day, it just comes down to us not making the most of the chances we had."

Boy, did Portland have chances.

The Timbers outshot the Silverbacks 22-10, and had at least a eight quality scoring opportunities.

But Atlanta goalkeeper Ryan McIntosh - who clinched things with a diving stop on Lawrence Olum's attempt in the fourth round of penalties - played big.

And the Timbers were left frustrated by their missed opportunities, and by several decisions by referee Terry Vaughn.

The biggest of those came in the game's 13th minute. Forward Bryan Jordan was chopped down by an Atlanta defender well inside the right side of the penalty area. Portland expected a penalty kick, but no foul was awarded.

"I know people make arguments about if the ball is going out or it's not going towards goal," Jordan said. "But ... if a player takes you out in the box, he takes you out on the box.

"A guy clipped me on more than one occasion. It looked like he just wasn't going to give a PK tonight."

It was a decision that would have been forgotten had Portland finished any of the many other scoring chances it generated.

Some examples:

In the 23rd minute, Jaime Ambrize cracked a shot from the left side of the 18-yard box that caught the cross bar.

And four minutes later, a flick by Knowles was headed out of the goalmouth by Atlanta defender Omar Jarun. Silverbacks' McIntosh had came off his line to play a looping free kick into the box, but only got a piece of the ball.

The second-half near misses included a sprawling save by McIntosh in the 62nd minute, a play that robbed Bryan Jordan, who had the ball find him feet from the goal off a long throw-in.

"It was below a header and above a knee. I was just trying to run it in pretty much, the keeper got to the side of the goal."

Portland's Luke Kreamalmeyer had two scoring chances late in the half, one blocked by McIntosh and another by an Atlanta defender.

As the game ticked into extra time, a 23-yard free kick by Andrew Gregor whipped inches outside the right post.

In the 30-minute overtime, David Hague, Olum and Matt Taylor all nearly scored - Olum on a header that forced McIntosh to make a leaping save, and Taylor with a header that smashed squarely off the left post and back to the Atlanta keeper.

Even as he vented at the officiating - including the decision to take the penalty kicks at the end of the field away from the spectators (a decision apparently made because of the baseball infield cutout) - coach Gavin Wilkinson offered this explanation for fans who might feel their team suffered an injustice on Sunday:

"It just shows that we need a little bit more ability in the team. You only remember the winners. The whole season I said: Let's not put ourself in a position where will have any regrets, and I think we have some regrets tonight."

Added the coach: "I think our composure was great. I think we stuck to the game plan, and tactically I think we were far superior. It became about lost opportunities."