VANCOUVER, BC – Whitecaps FC 2 fell 5-2 to San Jose Earthquakes II in their regular season home finale on Saturday at Dhillon Field.
The young 'Caps had a great chance to open the scoring in the fourth minute. Gloire Amanda played Antoine Coupland in behind the Earthquakes II backline, with the winger forcing a key save from San Jose goalkeeper Emmanuel Ochoa.
Shortly after, Earthquakes II took the lead through Keegan Tingey’s header off a corner kick.
WFC2 would respond six minutes later. Amanda again connected with Coupland, finding the winger at the back post with a cross-field ball. Coupland then nodded the ball across for a wide-open Malcolm Johnston, who headed in his second goal of the season to tie the match at 1-1.
In the 35th minute, Eduardo Blancas tapped in a loose ball in the box to give the away side a 2-1 advantage heading into the halftime interval.
Fast forward to the 62nd minute, Ousseni Bouda found the bottom corner with a bullet header following another San Jose corner, making it 3-1 for Earthquakes II.
Nine minutes later, Earthquakes II substitute Alex Chow got on the end of a deflected ball inside the box, calmly putting in his side’s fourth of the day.
San Jose scored their fifth shortly after, with Blancas scoring his second of the match.
WFC2 would pull one back in the 87th minute, as Amir Ghasemi scored his first MLS NEXT Pro goal with a tidy finish from close range but it wasn’t enough as San Jose saw out the match and claimed a 5-2 victory.
The young ‘Caps will now look to end the 2023 MLS NEXT Pro regular season on a high, as they face Cascadia rivals Tacoma Defiance on Sunday, September 24 at Starfire Sports Stadium in Tukwila, Washington. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. PT.
MATCH DETAILS
Referee: Mo Mohseni
Scoring Summary
10’ – SJ – Keegan Tingey (Eduardo Blancas)
16’ – VAN – Malcolm Johnston (Antoine Coupland, Gloire Amanda)
35’ – SJ – Eduardo Blancas
62’ – SJ – Ousseni Bouda (Roberto Hategan)
71’ – SJ – Alex Chow
78’ – SJ – Eduardo Blancas (Ousseni Bouda)
87’ – VAN – Amir Ghasemi (Giovanni Aguilar)
Statistics
Possession: VAN 53.2% - SJ 46.8%
Shots: VAN 15 - SJ 20
Shots on Goal: VAN 8 - SJ 11
Saves: VAN 6 - SJ 7
Fouls: VAN 8 - SJ 14
Offsides: VAN 1 - SJ 1
Corners: VAN 4 - SJ 7
Cautions
25’ – SJ – Cameron Cilley
45+2’ – SJ – Ousseni Bouda
74’ – VAN – Darko Ilić
77’ – VAN – Antoine Coupland
Whitecaps FC 250.Max Anchor; 46.Darko Ilić (58.Amoni Thomas 75’), 61.Matteo Campagna, 83.Finn Linder, 54.Mihail Gherasimencov (57.Elage Bah 75’); 41.Malcolm Johnston, 66.Giovanni Aguilar ©, 30.Kamron Habibullah; 43.Antoine Coupland, 42.Lowell Wright (91.Kyler Vojvodic 57’), 44.Gloire Amanda (47.Amir Ghasemi 40’)
Substitutes
90.Cohen Park, 56.Lucas Dasovic, 76.Joe Hanson, 84.Christian Greco-Taylor, 95.Joshué Ndakala
San Jose Earthquakes II
41.Emmanuel Ochoa; 63.Oscar Verhoeven (50.Aaron Edwards , 19.Cameron Cilley, 66.Alejandro Cano, 17.Keegan Tingey; 20.Will Richmond, 72.Edwyn Mendoza (75.Alex Chow HT), 64.Jerry Avon ©, 99.Cruz Medina (70.Roberto Hategan HT); 60.Eduardo Blancas (56.Roka Tsunehara 79’), 25.Ousseni Bouda (78.Sebastian Carbajal 87’)
Substitutes
68.John Nicolson, 62.Kevin Oseguera
