Vancouver Whitecaps FC Prospect teams opened their weekend Los Angeles tour by going down in a five-game series with top-ranked California club Arsenal SC.All five Whitecaps Prospect teams were in action as part of a special exhibition series against Arsenal in preparation for the Odyssey Cup tournament on Saturday and Sunday.In Friday’s games, the Whitecaps U-14 Girls pulled in the day’s only result with a 3-2 win over Arsenal’s U-14 Girls. The U-13 Girls played well, but ended up on the wrong end of 2-0 defeat. The U-12 Girls were level at 1-1 with their Arsenal counterparts before giving up four goals late in the game for a 5-1 loss.The Whitecaps U-13 Boys went down early and never recovered in a 4-1 defeat, while the U-14 Boys met the same fate in giving up early goals in a 5-2 loss.For the Whitecaps, Friday’s games against Arsenal are the start of a series of regular exhibition encounters against some of California’s top youth clubs. Both Soccer America and gotsoccer.com recently recognized Arsenal SC as one of the top youth clubs in North America.The Whitecaps will now move on to compete in the Odyssey Cup tournament that runs this weekend, Follow the results at
whitecapsfc.com/youth
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Game Recaps
Whitecaps U-14 Girls 3 vs Arsenal SC 2
After Thursday’s 2-2 draw against another top California club in SoCal Blues, the U-14 Girls put in another strong performance by outplaying Arsenal in a 3-2 victory. The Caps went 1-0 up when Navneet Samra converted Courtney Sine’s corner into the bottom corner of the net. The Arsenal team responded, and both teams traded goals before Shayla Chorney sealed the game for Vancouver with her second goal.
Whitecaps U-13 Girls 0 vs Arsenal SC 2
The U-13 Girls played a tremendous game, but unfortunately could not capitalize on their chances, which included several saves by the Arsenal goalkeeper. Players of note were Sam McKluskie, who had a tremendous game both offensively and defensively, and Carley Radomski on defence.
Whitecaps U-12 Girls 1 vs Arsenal SC 5
The U-12 Girls were up against a much bigger and stronger Arsenal team. The Caps had some early pressure, but were unable to finish their chances. The game turned at the 20-minute mark when Arsenal broke through the Whitecaps defence and scored on their first shot. The Caps struck back with a great bit of combination play between Chelsea Harkins and Nikki Turney that saw a shot come back off the inside of the post and stay out.Early in the second half, the Caps kept pushing and were rewarded with a goal by Harkins off a cross by Zoe Stainthorpe. However, with a quarter of an hour remaining, Arsenal could do no wrong when they scored four goals in succession to win 5-1.
Whitecaps U-14 Boys 2 vs Arsenal SC 5
The U-14 Boys went down early and never recovered. Despite being down 4-1 at the half, the Caps had several wide open chances in the second half that they couldn’t capitalize on. The final result was a 5-2 defeat, with the two Whitecaps goals coming from Spencer DeBoice and Yassin Essa.
Whitecaps U-13 Boys 1 vs Arsenal SC 4
In a similar pattern, it took the U-13 Boys almost a half to get used to the pace of the match after being down 3-0 at the half. Despite a better second-half display, the Whitecaps lost 4-1, with Vancouver’s lone goal coming from Lucas Krivak.
