By Simon Fudge/whitecapsfc.com
Vancouver Whitecaps FC made the most of a warm and sunny Saturday afternoon by holding an inter-squad match that involved members of the men's team and the club's Residency program.
In front of a small group of interested onlookers at the Whitecaps Training Centre on the campus of Simon Fraser University, 'Team Green' defeated 'Team Blue' 3-1 in this final contest before
Teitur Thordarson
's side travel south to Casa Grande, Arizona, for a two-week preseason trip at the state-of-the-art Grande Sports World facility, which is located between Phoenix and Tucson.
Saturday saw two of the men's team's new signings make an appearance at SFU. Midfielder
Jonny Steele
and left fullback
Blake Wagner
got a taste of action with their new teammates in what was a well-contested training match.
The action started soon after kickoff, with 'Team Green' goalkeeper
Jay Nolly
making a good save from Residency youngster Joseph-Claude Gyau just nine minutes in. On 16 minutes, winger
Russell Teibert
gave 'Team Green' the lead after converting a
Justin Moose
cross from the left. They doubled their advantage when Moose made the most of a poor clearance to make it 2-0 to 'Team Green' at halftime.
'Team Green' tried to extend their lead early in the second half, but Steele was unable to convert Teibert's fine through ball on 55 minutes. Two minutes later, striker
Randy Edwini-Bonsu
converted a
Philippe Davies
corner from the right to give 'Team Blue' their only goal of the match.
'Team Green' secured the win through another new signing on 73 minutes. Mexican midfielder
Ricardo Sánchez
gave those in attendance a glimpse of his fine set-piece abilities, as he struck a well-executed free kick over the 'Team Blue' wall and past trialist goalkeeper Dan Pelc to secure a 3-1 win.
Stay logged on whitecapsfc.com for coverage of the men's team preseason trip to Arizona, including three friendly matches versus Major League Soccer (MLS) opposition in Seattle Sounders FC, Chicago Fire, and the defending MLS Cup champions Real Salt Lake.
Team Green
Jay Nolly (Simon Thomas 58'); Chris Williams, Wesley Charles (Zourab Tsiskaridze 39' - switched from 'Team Blue'), Greg Janicki, Takashi Hirano; Justin Moose, Ricardo Sánchez, Jonny Steele (Ethan Gage 58' - switched from 'Team Blue'), Russell Teibert; Marlon James, Alex Semenets
Team Blue
Dan Pelc; Tim Hickson (Alex Rowley 61'; Tim Hickson 75'), Luca Bellisomo, Zourab Tsiskaridze (Jack Cubbon 39'), Blake Wagner; Nizar Khalfan, Ethan Gage (La'Vere Corbin-Ong 58'), La'Vere Corbin-Ong (Philippe Davies 19'), Ansu Toure; Randy Edwini-Bonsu (Joseph Gyau 58'), Joseph Gyau (Cornelius Stewart 45')
