The Whitecaps continued their season with a 3-1 win over the visiting Houston Dynamo in front of 18,811 supporters on an afternoon game at B.C. Place Stadium.
They managed to get two goals from Darren Mattocks which moved the club into fourth place in the Western Conference of the MLS. This see’s them three points up on the Colorado Rapids, whom they play on the 16th on home turf.
This is the first of three games under the Dome in a span of 14 days following a lengthy holiday away from the home pitch.
They opened the scoring in minute three when Lee Young-Pyo created an opening sending Mattocks untouched to the penalty area seeing him roof the ball past a shocked Houston “keeper” Tally Hall giving them a 1-0 lead.
They continued to press in the first half with a precision passing keeping their opponents confused. Sebastian Le Toux sent a rocket just inches over the crossbar in minute 21 minute.
Houston’s opportunity came in the 28th minute as Brian Ching (former Montreal Impact) forced Joe Cannon to make a key save, keeping the game in the Whitecaps favour. In the 30th minute “caps” keeper Joe Cannon relaxed which was almost costly.
He attempted a forward but the pass went straight to Houston’s Will Bruin who sent a shot wide of the near post.
The teams went to the locker room with the Caps leading 1-0 at the half. In the second half saw “Caps” Darren Mattocks scored his second of the afternoon on a feed from Gershon Koffie on the wing seeing Dynamo keeper Tally Hall have no chance, putting the Caps up 2-0 in the 66th minute.
Houston eventually got on the scoreboard in the 71st minute on a goal by Substitute Macoumba Kandji which saw him come off the bench for forward Brian Ching.
The Caps sealed the win in the 88th minute seeing sub Jordan Harvey come off the bench replacing Davide Chiumiento. He took a pass from Koffie long ball down the wing and blasted in the Caps third goal in the 88th minute.
Make it a 3-1 game in Vancouver’s favour which eventually proved to be the final goal for the Caps on this day.
Vancouver plays Colorado Rapids June 16th with the kick-off set for 4:00pm kickoff.
They conclude this home-stand against the New York Red Bulls on the 20th, with the kick-off set for 8:00 pm.
Other Sports Action (Same Day)
The Girls of the Terminal City Roller Derby took the floor at Minoru Arena in Richmond with a pair of games in front of 1,500 on-lookers.
The first game of the night saw rivals battle it out as the Terminal City Riot Girls took on the Faster Pussycats which by all accounts was one sided.
The Pussycats managed a 182-84 win,, which was filled with action and entertainment from the first whistle. The second saw game Terminal City Roller Derby All-Stars play a team from Seattle called the “Rats”.
This game started out well for the lower-mainland all-stars as they opened up an early 28-0 lead over the visitors from Seattle and extended it to 44-11 late in the first half.
The match continued until the visitors started to mount a comeback scoring points in bunches coming back to cut the lead to 49-46 late in the half.
They eventually took the lead with five minutes remaining in the first half (52-44).Seattle added to their lead in the second half and outscored the Terminal City Roller Girls All-Stars by 217 to 100.
Thanks to Bruce Nolte for the info on the Pussycat Dolls Roller Derby Team.
