Pedro Morales in action against the Vikes / Whitecaps FC
By Aaron Campbell, Vancouver (@AaCamp81)
The Vancouver Whitecaps traveled to Vancouver Island to face the University of Victoria Vikes in their annual preseason friendly. It was men against boys at times with the Whitecaps coming out on top 6-0 in front of the 2,500 fans at Centennial Stadium in the BC capital.
Carl Robinson stuck to his regular formation in a 4-2-3-1 like he did down in Tucson: (Tornaghi – Beitashour, Waston, Rodriguez, Adekugbe – Teibert, Laba – Hurtado, Morales, Bustos – Rivero)
After barely squeaking out a 1-0 win last season with a 90th minute Andre Lewis goal it didn’t take long for the Whitecaps to score and run away with the game this year. In the 3rd minute Pedro Morales was able to convert a free kick beating the keeper at the near post. It was all set up from great hustle from young Canadian Sam Adekugbe. Morales returned to the squad having missed the last few days in Tucson after witnessing the birth of his daughter back in Chile. He gave the island support a taste of what is to come if they make the trip to BC Place this season.
Four minutes later the Whitecaps went up 2-0 after Russell Teibert found a loose ball in the box and slotted it home. Teibert showed great tenacity all game and partnered up well with Matias Laba in the defensive midfield role.
Newly signed homegrown player Marco Bustos scored the goal of the game in the 19th minute with a great volley over the UVIC defender to put the Whitecaps up 3-0. Octavio Rivero’s vision set up the goal and he looked comfortable linking up with Bustos and Morales in the first half.
Rivero scored his third goal of preseason putting away a Morales through ball in the 28th minute. The goal put the Whitecaps up 4-0 while Uvic had to rue the thought of a second half still to play. This was the first chance this preseason to see how Rivero would acclimatize to playing off Morales.
The Whitecaps made two changes to start the second half. Ethan Sampson came on for Steven Beitashour and residency product Kianz Froese replaced Erik Hurtado. Whitecaps came out in the second half just as they finished the first half by pressuring the Vikes and attacking up the wings. Uvic did a much better job soaking up the heavy pressure by sitting deeper and hoping for an opportunity to present itself for a rare foray forward.
Octavio Rivero on the ball / Whitecaps FC
In the 54th minute Bustos put in a dangerous cross to setup newly signed centerback Diego Rodriguez who scored his first goal in a Whitecaps kit. The Uruguayan took a heavy knock as he poked home, delaying any celebration.
Around the hour mark Robinson decided the starters had played enough and made a mass lineup change. He continued with the 4-2-3-1:(Tornaghi – Farmer, Parker, Dean, Sampson – Piraux, McKendry – Froese, Earnshaw, Bustos – Clarke). Robert Earnshaw brought the crowd to their feet in the 65th minute with an acrobatic bicycle kick but Vikes keeper Pawlowski stood strong.
In the 77th minute Caleb Clarke lifted a cross into the box to find the head of Froese who had no trouble putting it past the Pawlowski to wrap scoring and send the Whitecaps home with a 6-0 demolition of the struggling Vikes who had only returned the night prior from a training stint in Florida.
This was a confidence building tuneup for the Whitecaps before they head down to Portland for the Simple Invitational. Their first match will be on Sunday, February 22 against hosts Portland Timbers, followed by Norwegian side Stabaek on Wednesday, February 25. They wrap up the tournament against Eastern Conference side Chicago Fire on Saturday, February 28.
Match Stats
Referee: Alain Ruch
Attendance: 2,500
Scoring Summary:
3’ – VAN – Pedro Morales
7′ – VAN – Russell Teibert
19′ – VAN – Marco Bustos (Octavio Rivero)
28′ – VAN – Octavio Rivero (Pedro Morales)
54′ – VAN – Diego Rodriguez (Marco Bustos)
77′ – VAN – Kianz Froese (Caleb Clarke)
Match Stats:
Shots: UVic 5 – Vancouver 15
Shots on Goal: UVic 2 – Vancouver 11
Saves: UVic 4 – Vancouver 1
Fouls: UVic 15 – Vancouver 11
Offsides: UVic 2 – Vancouver 2
Corners: UVic 4 – Vancouver 4
Cautions:
26′ – VIC – Alex Redpath
University of Victoria Vikes
1.Noah Pawlowski; 4.Adam Ravenhill, 19.Alex Redpath, 25.Aaron Murphy, 9.Sam Prette; 7.Craig Gorman (16.Paulo Dait 65′), 3.Tarnvir Bhandal (6.Gareth Langdon 45′), 8.Craig Taylor (20.Scot Jones 71′), 23.Cam Hundal; 11.Cam Stokes (21.Dominic Colantonio 45′), 13.Michael Baart
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
70.Paolo Tornaghi; 33.Steven Beitashour (27.Ethen Sampson 45′), 4.Kendall Waston (26.Tim Parker 63′), 18.Diego Rodriguez (22.Christian Dean 63′), 3.Sam Adekugbe (^41.Jackson Farmer 63′); 15.Matias Laba (^37.Mitch Piraux 63′), 31.Russell Teibert (30.Ben McKendry 63′); 19.Erik Hurtado (38.Kianz Froese 45′), 77.Pedro Morales (+8.Robert Earnshaw 63′), 32.Marco Bustos; 29.Octavio Rivero (34.Caleb Clarke 63′)
Substitutes not used
*39. Spencer Richey
*Unsigned MLS SuperDraft pick
+Trialist
^Residency graduate
