VICTORIA, BC – On a beautiful sunny day in Victoria, Whitecaps FC Reserves defeated the University of Victoria (UVic) Vikes by a score of 3-0 in front of 2,600 fans at Centennial Stadium.
‘Caps goals by Camilo, Erik Hurtado, and Tom Heinemann propelled the Blue and White over the hometown side in a match that started off slow, but finished with Vancouver looking like a motivated team.
Head coach Martin Rennie made three changes to the side that played UBC on Thursday. Trialist Ethen Sampson came in for Johnny Leverón, while fellow trialist Aminu Abdallah and Omar Salgado replace Kekuta Manneh and Corey Hertzog. Abdallah played a more defensive midfield role, allowing Teibert to move up to attacking midfield and Camilo to step in at striker, while Salgado came on at left wing.
The opening minutes provided several chances for both teams, but neither team was able to find the back of the net. Whitecaps FC’s best chance early on came when a free kick from Russell Teibert came back out to the midfielder, who then sent a wonderful cross back in that was headed just wide by Omar Salgado.
Another great chance for the ‘Caps came on 14 minutes when Salgado broke into the box and set up Camilo for a shot that was well saved by diving Vikes goalkeeper Elliot Mitrou. The Blue and White had another chance minutes later when Camilo swung a corner kick towards the near post, but Salgado’s header was unable to find the target as it flew high over the net.
The Vikes had a few chances of their own in the middle of the first half. In the 19th minute, a well placed cross fell through the box and landed on the other side without touching a single Vike. Another opportunity came on 22 minutes when Vikes midfielder Cam Stokes made a quick cross into midfielder Thomas Mallette, who was unable to finish it.
The first goal of the match did not come until 36 minutes, when Camilo finished off a beautiful pass from ‘Caps defender Greg Klazura after the Illinois native broke down the left flank and passed several Vikes defenders.
Quickly afterwards, Hurtado made it 2-0 for the ‘Caps when he was sprung by Camilo, dribbled passed the Vikes defender, and slid the ball home. The first half ended at a score of 2-0 for Whitecaps FC, who seemed to become more comfortable on the ball near the end of the half.
In the second half, ‘Caps goalkeeper Simon Thomas came onto the field in front of his hometown crowd as he replaced Brad Knighton to start the final 45 minutes.
Whitecaps FC had better ball movement and a few chances to get another goal in the opening minutes of the second half. On 51 minutes, Camilo hit a long distance ball, but missed the target wide right. Another opportunity came in the 66th minute when rookie Kekuta Manneh broke into the box past several Vikes defenders, but the young midfielder was unable to get a shot off.
On 77 minutes, Heinemann sealed the result with a third goal for the ‘Caps. Teibert shot from the left and the rebound fell kindly to Heinemann, who calmy fired it into the back of the net.
The home team pushed for a goal in the final minutes, but the ‘Caps held firm to preserve the shutout in a convincing 3-0 victory.
Next up, Whitecaps FC Reserves take on SFU Clan on Tuesday, March 19 at UBC’s Thunderbird Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. PT.
Scoring Summary:
36' - VAN - Camilo (Greg Klazura)
38' - VAN – Erik Hurtado (Camilo)
77' - VAN – Tommy Heinemann (Russell Teibert)
Match Stats:
Shots: UVic 5 - Vancouver 16
Shots on Goal: UVic 3 - Vancouver 8
Saves: Uvic 5 - Vancouver 3
Fouls: UVic 10 - Vancouver 11
Offsides: UVic 0 - Vancouver 1
Corners: UVic 4 - Vancouver 6
Cautions:
59' - UVic - Andrew Ravenhill
81' - VAN - Aminu Abdallah
Ejection
None
Uvic Vikes
30.Elliot Mitrou; 3.Bobby Eng, 2. Gavin Barrett (6.Toshi Hayashi 70'), 19.Alex Redpath, 17.Andrew Ravenhill; 11.Cam Stokes (22.Sam Prete 62') , 7.Wesley Barrett (21.Dominic Colantonio 62'), 25. Gareth Langdon (4.Spencer MacKinnon 70'), 10.Thomas Mallette (20.Adam Ravenhill 84'); 23. Cam Hundal 26. Craig Gorman (13.Kurt Macaulay 62')
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
18.Brad Knighton (39.Simon Thomas 45’); 32.Greg Klazura (42. Dever Orgill 83'), 43. Ethen Sampson, 33.Adam Clement (16.Johnny Leveron 45’), 2.Jordan Harvey (26.Corey Hertzog 83'); 8.Matt Watson (34.Caleb Clarke 72'), 20.Aminu Abdallah; 19.Erik Hurtado (22.Paulo Jr., 45’), 31.Russell Teibert; 17. Omar Salgado (29.Tommy Heinemann 40’); 7.Camilo Sanvezzo (23.Kekuta Manneh 62')
