Whitecaps Close Cascadia Summit With A Win

The Vancouver Whitecaps ended the Cascadia Summit with a flurry of goals as they defeated the Seattle Sounders 3-2 before a majority pro-Sounder crowd in Tukwila, Washington.  Both teams rolled their “B” teams with Jay Nolly, Greg Janicki and Wesley Knight the only Whitecaps to start both games.  The starting eleven for the Whitecaps were from left to right Nolly, Duckett, Boxall, Janicki, Knight, Teibert, Morfaw, Koffie, Khalfan, Salgado and Sanvezzo.

The Caps opened the scoring in the sixth minute as 1^st overall pick Omar Salgado got past a Seattle defender to deposit the ball in the back of the net.  Salgado, in fact, started the game on fire as he consistently got past the defenders to get more scoring opportunities and forced the Sounders to commit fouls.  In the 13^th minute goalkeeper Terry Boss of the Sounders mishandled a cross by Russell Teibert which resulted in a second goal.  The Whitecaps were caught looking in the box as Roger Levesque scored an easy one on Jay Nolly from close in right before halftime.

The Whitecaps started even quicker in the second half when Sounder Patrick Ianni cleared a ball off the line right to Sanvezzo who made no mistake to put the Caps up 3-1.  They held onto that lead until the 78^th minute when substitute Miguel Montano got one past Joe Cannon, who came on a sub at the half.  Other changes made in the second half were the subs of Leathers for Knight , Stewart  for Khalfan, Dunfield for Morfaw, Tan for Sanvezzo, Brovsky for Teibert and Harris for Salgado.  The Whitecaps were able to hold off the Sounder for the remaining 12 minutes plus 6 added minutes for injury as the game ended 3-2 for Vancouver. 

The Whitecaps completed their first Cascadia Summit undefeated with a win against the Sounders and a draw against the Timbers.  Sunday’s game saw the Whitecaps make a role reversal as they were the ones to capitalize on the opponent’s mistake.  Omar Salgado had his best match of the preseason scoring the first and helping create an opportunity for the third.  Russell Teibert continued his impressive play on the left side of midfield while defender Greg Janicki played both games from start to finish. 

OTHER NEWS

--The Whitecaps will play an invitation only game against MLS Cup Champion Colorado Rapids at Empire Field on March 12.

--The Whitecaps DP, Eric Hassli, should be joining the team later this week and may see action in the game versus the Rapids.

--On the injury front Alain Rochat picked up a minor knock in the game versus the Timbers and should return to training by Tuesday.  However the news is worse for Shea Salinas as he will be out 2-3 weeks because of an injury he suffered on Friday in training.

--Whitecaps Residency lost a 4-3 decision to the Sounders Academy U18s in a back and forth affair where the teams traded leads throughout the game.  Goals by the Whitecaps were scored by Doudou Toure, Coulton Jackson and Yassin Essa while the game winner was scored by Sounders on a free kick late in the match.