Sounders U-23 players salute the fans at Tumwater Stadium that watched them knock off the Timbers U-23s in 2012.

The junior version of North American soccer’s biggest rivalry will return to the Olympia area in the 2013 season.

Last week, the Premier Development League and the Sounders U-23s released the 2013 schedule that includes a June 9th date between the Sounders U-23s and the Portland Timbers U-23s at Tumwater Stadium.

Last season, a mostly Sounders partisan crowd of 1,300 packed Tumwater Stadium and saw the Sounders U-23s’ Jamael Cox score an added time goal to knock off the Timbers U-23s 1-0. It was the first game between the two sides since the Tacoma Tides were sold and entered into an agreement with Seattle Sounders FC and rebranded as the Sounders U-23s. The 1,300 fans turned out to be the largest home crowd that the Sounders U-23s played in front of in 2012 and the game was named the 2012 Oly Sports moment of the year.

The Timbers U-23s game in Tumwater is the premier event on the Sounders U-23s schedule this season. The ex-Tides have left Tacoma altogether and moved the majority of their home games to Sumner’s Sunset Stadium. They will also play two home games against the Washington Crossfire at the Starfire complex in Renton.

Besides the Tumwater game in 2012, they played two games at Tacoma’s Cheney Stadium that for various reasons failed to draw the crowds that were expected. They played the remainder of their season in front of smallish crowds at Franklin Pierce High School.

Three Sounders U-23 players that played in the Tumwater game last season either signed or were drafted by Major League Soccer clubs. DeAndre Yedlin, a defender from the University of Akron and a Sounders Academy product, signed with Seattle Sounders FC as their first Homegrown Player while UCLA’s Fernando Monge was drafted #18 overall by the Montreal Impact in the MLS SuperDraft last week and Anthony Arena was drafted by the Houston Dynamo in the supplemental draft today.

First kick on June 9th is scheduled for 2:00 PM.