VANCOUVER, BC - Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-18 Residency (6W-2L-0D) lost a 2-1 heartbreaker against Seattle Sounders FC (4W-1L-3D) Saturday afternoon at UBC’s Dhillon Field, while the U-16s (4W-2L-1D) fell to a 3-0 defeat.
U-18
Gordon Forrest’s side came out with a strong effort, despite tough circumstances as the team was once again without five regular players (Marco Carducci, Marco Bustos, Matthew Chow, Kianz Froese and Jordan Haynes) who were all called up for the Canadian FIFA U-17 World Cup team.
The ‘Caps battled long and hard against their Northwest rivals for much of the game, with a ton of scoring opportunities for both teams in the first half, but no goals to show early on.
Seattle broke the deadlock midway through the second half as a cross in was finished with a header, giving the Sounders the early lead on 60 minutes of play.
Seattle then gave themselves some insurance 15 minutes later, as another header found the back of the net on 75 minutes of action off a world-class diagonal ball that was knocked in far post.
Midfielder Mitch Piraux was able to pull one back for the Blue and White late, as he made a wicked 25-yard run to pot home the ball on 90 minutes, but it was too little too late for the U-18s as they fell a goal short.
In a very competitive affair, assistant coach Steve Meadley was happy to once again see the youngsters from the U-16 team get a chance to show their skills with the older boys.
“We knew it was going to be a game of very few chances, and they took theirs," Meadley told whitecapsfc.com. "It was very tight and seriously contested, and I thought we let ourselves down a bit; but the good thing is that it is about development and this was a great learning opportunity for all of them.”
Scoring Summary
59’ – SEA - Duncan McCormick
73’ – SEA - Kenneth Sweet
90’ – VAN - Mitch Piraux
Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-18 Residency
Nolan Wirth; Titouan Chopin, Jackson Farmer, Nicholas Prasad, Sam Adekugbe; Mitch Piraux, Mark Baldisimo, Dario Zanatta (Vaggeli Boucas 77’); Aymar Sigue, Mason James (Kyle Jones 61’), Nike Azuma.
U-16
The U-16s, with several players called up to play for the U-18s, fell 3-0 to the Sounders on a cloudy afternoon at UBC Dhillon Field.
The visitors took the lead on 24 minutes, carrying the advantage into halftime after a closely contested first half.
Despite efforts to make a comeback in the second half, the Sounders retained their lead before doubling their advantage to 2-0 on 47 minutes. Seattle then found a final tally with 15 minutes to go as a younger group of U-16s suffered only their second loss of the season.
Scoring Summary
24’ – SEA - Kasey French
47’ – SEA - Ryan Schaefer
76’ – SEA - Ryan Schaefer
Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-16 Residency
Aidan Aylward; Joshua Cuthbert (Kadin Chung 44’), Manraj Bains, Matthew Baldisimo, Erik Morden (John Kasper 70’); Jeevin Kang, David Norman, Thomas Gardner (Marcello Polisi 48’); Francesco Saporito, Cole Morokhovich (Daniel Sagno 60’), Terran Campbell (Patrick Izett 41’)
