Match Report:

By Alan Douglas/whitecapsfc.com

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency continue to impress in their debut season in the USL Premier Development League, as they downed the visiting BYU Cougars 4-1 on Saturday afternoon.

It was a strong performance by the young Whitecaps, who had to play most of match with ten men after midfielder Philippe Davies was sent off for a second yellow card inside the first 36 minutes. Ethan Gage and Kyle Porter netted two goals a piece, as they each scored late in the first half, then struck again after the interval.

The game was played at a brisk pace on a breezy but sunny afternoon at Simon Fraser University's Terry Fox Field. And with the university campus holding an open house, there were plenty of curious spectators, who stopped by to take in the action.

There were few quality chances in the early going, and most of those fell to the home side. Randy Edwini-Bonsu headed over the crossbar on minute 22 after some nice approach play down the left, and the talented striker then sent a bicycle kick wide from 16 yards a few minutes later.

BYU's best chance of the half came from Brett Osbourne, who saw his shot deflect wide of goal on the half-hour mark.

A key moment of the game came on minute 36 when referee Mark Budda showed Davies his second yellow card of the afternoon after he clipped the heels of a Cougars player. Neither of his fouls had seemed particularly reckless, but the referee deemed them worthy of a sending off, leaving the home side down a man, with almost an hour still to play.

The Whitecaps did not let the incident upset their game plan, however, and on minute 40, their perseverance was rewarded. From a free kick, Alex Semenets curled a diagonal ball into the box to find the head of Gage, and he looped the ball over BYU goalkeeper Bryan Black and into the goal for a 1-0 lead.

With time running out in the half, Black suddenly went down with an injury, and play was halted while his replacement warmed up. Into the game stepped Quin Shepherd in first half injury time, and his first touch of the ball moments later was to pick it out of the net. Edwini-Bonsu played the ball to Porter, who made space for the shot and then buried it in the bottom left corner from the edge of the area.

It was 2-0 Whitecaps at the break.

After the restart, the Residency players picked up where they had left off. Edwini-Bonsu got behind the Cougars defence on minute 50, but the ball was bouncing awkwardly, and when he finally fired it past Shepherd, a defender had got back to clear the ball off the BYU goal-line.

There was no stopping the Whitecaps three minutes later, however, as Porter scored the goal of the game. The Mississauga, Ontario, native curled the ball beautifully from 25 yards and into the top right corner of the goal.

Gage then tallied his second goal of the day from a penalty kick on minute 65 to make it 4-0.

The visitors pulled a goal back on minute 83, as Michael Moreno fired home on the feed from Steven Follows, but it proved academic by that stage.


With a record now of 3-0-0, Whitecaps Residency move into third place in the Northwest Division of the PDL's Western Conference with nine points. Next up is a game away to second place Tacoma Tide, who sport a 3-2-1 record, next Saturday night.

BYU, meanwhile, drop to 2-3-1 after road losses to Abbotsford Mariners and Whitecaps Residency. They can do the Whitecaps a favour in their next game when they host the division-leading Yakima Reds on Friday, June 13.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
1.Simon Thomas; 15.Antonio Rago, 4.Adam Straith, 32.Luca Bellisomo, 3.Navid Mashinchi (13.William Hyde 79'); 6.Ethan Gage, 8.Philippe Davies, 17.Alex Semenets (10.Devin Gunenc 67'), 14.Gagandeep Dosanjh (2.Greg Smith 79'); 7.Kyle Porter, 9.Randy Edwini-Bonsu (18.Drew Russell 67')

Subs not used: 5.Anthony DiNicolo, 12.Karm Shergill

BYU Cougars
27.Bryan Black (0.Quin Shepherd 45'); 3.Richard Bindrup, 6.Andrew van Wagenen, 8.Morgan Gilliam, 14.Clay Christenson (16.Jonathan Junca 59'); 2.Curtis Graham (15.Derek Taylor 45'), 10.Britton Osborne, 11.Jordan Cushman (22.Steve Magleby 45'), 13.Brent Jensen; 9.Zack DeFrancis (23.Michael Moreno 67'), 19.Garrett Losee (18.Steven Fellows 45')