A crowd of 1,453 were on hand to see first-half goals from Caleb Clarke and Ben McKendry that put Vancouver up 2-0 before a late Monarchs penalty forced the home side to hang on in the final few moments for the three points.
Richmond, B.C. native, Caleb Clarke opened the scoring the in the 21st minute as he finished off some nice buildup play between UBC’s Chris Serban and Tyler Rosenlund by firing his shot off a defender and into the top corner for his team leading, fourth goal of the year. Just after the half hour mark Whitecaps FC2 doubled their lead with a cracking team goal. Rosenlund’s lofted through ball found Victor Blasco on the right wing where the Spanish winger took over. The former Vancouver Island College star cradled the pass with an exquisite touch that took him beyond Salt Lake and right back to Danilo Acosta before cutting the ball back to the wide open McKendry who slotted home his first USL goal from 10 yards out. The Monarchs nearly cut the lead in half just before the break after Maikon Orellana’s sharp angle shot struck the under side of the cross bar behind Caps’ keeper Spencer Richey but stayed out.
Despite the two goals, the game lacked the flow of WFC2’s other matches as referee Alain Ruch was forced to intervene on a regular basis. Lennon Celestino, Phanuel Kavita and Fito Ovalle were all shown yellow for Salt Lake City before Serban and Brett Levis were booked for clattering tackles in the 61st and 71st minutes, respectively. After not threatening for much of the game, the visitors made things interesting in the 80th minute as Vancouver’s Jordan Haynes caught Sebastian Saucedo with a high foot just outside the six yard box causing Ruch to immediately point to the spot. Lucas Baldwin converted the penalty but the Monarchs, who currently sit last in the Western Conference, were unable to generate a late equalizer. After the final whistler multiple Caps’ raised their arms more in relief than anything after having seen multiple late leads slip away in recent weeks.
“It’s been a long time coming,” head coach Alan Koch said of the win. “Give the guys credit, we’ve worked very, very hard for several weeks now to get that win, I think we were getting sick and tired of tying at home so I’m glad we could turn it around and get the three points.
For Vancouver native McKendry, whose first professional goal turned out to be the game winner, the tally was relief more than joy after several close calls over the last few weeks.
“It’s a bit of a relief to be honest,” said McKendry. “A little bit of a monkey off the back, I feel like I could have had one last week and this week I just wanted to come back with the same mentality and when I got the opportunity I wanted to take it and I did …. credit to Victor, it was a great ball across.”
With the win the Whitecaps remain undefeated at home in their inaugural season in the USL and hope to build off it as they welcome Arizona United SC to Thunderbird Stadium next week to close out their third home game in a row.