BURNABY, BC –Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency kept up their impressive starts to the 2014-15 United States Soccer Development Academy campaign on Sunday, as both the U-18s and U-16s earned wins over their counterparts from Santa Cruz Breakers Academy.
U-18
Whitecaps FC U-18 Residency (9W-0L-0D) got out to an early lead and never looked back, as they blanked Santa Cruz Breakers Academy U-18 2-0 in the day’s first match. Winger Francesco Saporito and defender Jordan Haynes got the goals for the ‘Caps, as the squad extended its lead atop the Northwest Division and the overall USSDA standings.
Controlling the majority of the play early on, the Blue and White struck in the 11th minute. After winning some space for himself in the middle of the park, Ali Musse picked out Saporito coming down the right flank. From about 15 yards out, Saporito had a clean look at the Santa Cruz goal, and buried a shot to open the scoring.
The ‘Caps came close in the 25th minute, as Kyle Jones and Dario Zanatta combined to find Musse on a counter The winger’s attempt on goal veered just wide to the right, keeping the game at one nothing.
Zanatta almost padded the lead himself at 41 minutes, as he did well to beat two defenders to a loose ball deep in the Breakers end and cut towards the goal, though he was stripped of the ball before he could get the shot off.
In the early going of the second half, the ‘Caps continued to keep the lion’s share of possession, but couldn’t break through some solid defending from Santa Cruz.
Haynes finally got the ‘Caps some insurance with eight minutes remaining. The left back snuck off the back line onto a loose ball in the Breakers’ area and sent it past the Santa Cruz keeper to seal the result for the Blue and White.
“It was a good weekend,” said head coach Niall Thompson. “Good result today. Though I felt that we could have played better, there are things that we will definitely take away from our showing out there.”
Scoring Summary
11’ – VAN – Francesco Saporito (Ali Musse)
82’ – VAN – Jordan Haynes
Vancouver Whitetcaps FC U-18 Residency
18.William Diaz; 16.Manraj Bains, 2.Andre Baires, 5.Vaggeli Boucas, 11. Jordan Haynes; 24.Vana Markarian (28.Thomas Gardner 56’), 20.Kyle Jones; 23.Francesco Saporito (14.Terran Campbell 62’), 10.Marco Bustos, 8.Ali Musse; 9.Dario Zanatta (12.William Grayson 56’)
U-16
Whitecaps FC U-16 Residency (7W-1L-1D) scored a pair of goals in each half as they topped Santa Cruz Breakers Academy U-16 4-0 on Sunday afternoon. Nick Apostol, Gloire Amanda, Georges Mukumbilwa, and Nathan Graziano all scored for the ‘Caps, as they showed off their balanced attack in a great team performance.
The ‘Caps U-16 side flew out of the gate, notching the game’s first goal just five minutes in. David Norman delivered a brilliant free kick 30 yards out and Apostol connected on it, elevating over a crowded Santa Cruz box to put a header past the keeper.
Graziano had a close call at the 18 minute mark, as he missed up high on a header after taking a great cross from Daniel Sagno inside the box.
In the 29th minute, Amanda added to the Blue and White’s lead. Noah Verhoeven delivered a great ball into the middle of the box, and the Edmonton native wasted no time in firing a low laser past the left of the keeper to make it 2-0.
Coming on as a sub in the second half, Mukumbilwa made his presence felt in the 60th minute. The Manitoban picked the ball out of a crowd on the left side of the Santa Cruz end, cut into the middle of the park and fired one short side to extend the ‘Caps lead.
Graziano added another marker less than two minutes later, as he smashed one in off a solo run down the right flank.
The ‘Caps shut the door the rest of the way, preserving their second clean sheet of the season.
“I’m really pleased with the overall effort and performance,” said head coach Rich Fagan. “We talked about that again, this morning, and, as good as we played yesterday, we wanted to be better today. For the most part, I feel that we accomplished that.”
Scoring Summary
5’ – VAN – Nick Apostol (David Norman)
29’ – VAN – Gloire Amanda (Noah Verhoeven)
60 – VAN – Georges Mukumbilwa
62’ – VAN – Nathan Graziano
Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-16 Residency
30.Aidan Aylward; 32.Kadin Chung (33.Michael Baldisimo 41’), 40.Bredan Skinner, 4.Matt Baldisimo, 35.Terrell Smith; 37.Nick Apostol, 13.David Norman (45.Munir Saleh 41’); 44.Nathan Graziano, 38.Noah Verhoeven (41.Duwayne Ewart 63’), 27.Daniel Sagno (34.Georges Mukumbilwa); 49.Gloire Amanda (36.Cole Morokhovich 70’)
