Vancouver Whitecaps FC’s U-16 Residency team recorded their first win of their United States Soccer Development Academy (USSDA) season with a crushing 4-1 victory over Crossfire Premier at Redmond High School in Washington today.
Left winger Matthew Chow scored two goals – including one from a corner kick – while striker Terran Campbell and midfielder Marco Bustos also found the back of the net in the breakthrough win.
Earlier, the U-18 side was on the cusp of clinching a second win of the season before Crossfire snatched a late equalizer to make the final score 1-1. Whitecaps FC right winger Yassin Essa opened the scoring in that match.
Today’s results give both Residency teams a 1W-2L-1D record on the season.
U-18
Essa struck first blood for Whitecaps FC on the half-hour with a clever free kick, but the team was dealt a nasty blow when defender Quinton Duncan was red-carded with 20 minutes to go.
The ‘Caps defended strongly after the dismissal but were undone in the 92nd minute when they failed to clear a corner.
“We created a number of chances and should have been up by more than one,” Residency assistant coach Martin Nash told whitecapsfc.com. “We had a man sent off, we did well to defend the lead for 20 minutes and at the end there, off a corner, we just couldn’t clear our lines and gave up the goal.”
Despite the heartbreak at the end, Nash was very pleased with the team’s performance.
“The shape of the team was good and we defended well as a team,” he said. “We didn’t give away many chances, we controlled large parts of the game and then really looked like we would go on and win it.”
Nash said he felt Duncan’s sending off was “unfortunate” as it appeared the defender had won the ball.
Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-18 lineup
Nolan Wirth; Quinton Duncan, Jackson Farmer, Alejandro Varela, Sam Adekugbe; Mitch Piraux, Kianz Froese (Liam Elbourne 73’); Carlos Marquez attack; Spencer DeBoice (Sebastian Cabrera 27’), Yassin Essa (Carlos Patino 85’), Brody Huitema (Matthew van der Eyden 70’).
U-16
After beginning the season with just one goal from three games, the floodgates finally opened in Redmond for the U-16 squad.
Campbell opened the scoring in the eighth minute when he smashed the ball home from close range after a Bustos corner. Then on 21 minutes, Bustos himself got on the scoresheet when he directed his free kick around the Crossfire wall and into the corner of the goal.
Four minutes after the break, Chow scored the first of his double for the day with a sensational goal from a corner kick, then after the hosts pulled one back in the 59th minute, Chow sealed proceedings when he intercepted a pass between two defenders and went on a breakway to score his team’s fourth.
Nash was understandably buzzing after the big result, but admitted the team could have finished with a few more goals.
“We had a good shape in the team and played solid defensively,” he said. “We didn’t give them much space to play in, our back line read the situations really well and stopped them from creating chances.
“Also, we played well in possession today, we moved the ball, created a number of chances and could have had a few more but I was very pleased with scoring four and very pleased with the way the boys ran the match.”
Nash said it was a complete team effort.
“Everyone came in and worked hard,” he said. “The best thing was they worked as a team, they worked hard as a team, worked for each other and any time a team does that you will have a chance to win it.
“It was nice to see. It’s been a few weeks since our last game but the boys put it all together today and it was nice to get the result.”
Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-16 lineup
Marco Carducci; Matthew Baldisimo (A.J Lopez 55’), Alex Comsia, Evangelos Boucas (Evan Libke 65’), Jordan Haynes; Jeevin Kang (Francesco Saporito 55’), Matteo Bordignon; Marco Bustos (Evan Gray 75’); Matthew Chow (Olamide Ajibike 70’), Terran Campbell (Dario Zanatta 60’), Joshua Cuthbert.
