Vancouver Whitecaps U18s are heading back to the USSDA Finals week.
The young Caps were made to work hard by Pennsylvania side PA Classics but eventually made it three wins in three with a 3-1 victory thanks to a brace from Marco Bustos and another from Yassin Essa.
The result saw the unbeaten Caps win the group by five points and they now head to Houston for the last eight showdown in July.
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The Whitecaps went in to the final group game knowing that a draw was enough to send them through, but despite dominating the early possession they were unable to break down the strong Classics defence.
The Pennsylvania side then shocked Vancouver by taking the lead midway through the half from a back post header but the character of the Caps’ side soon shone through.
Seeing the deficit as a mere blip and a challenge, Vancouver hit back almost immediately and it was Marco Bustos who kept up his goal a game playoff record for the week when he collected a pass from Titouan Chopin and crashed home the equaliser from 18 yards out.
It was the first goal that the Classics had conceded all week and only the 16th of the season that they had given up, in the match up between the league’s top offence and top defence.
That was how it stayed till the half and Vancouver were now just 45 minutes away from back to back Finals week appearances.
The Caps had a great chance to put one foot in the last eight when they got a penalty ten minutes into the second half, but the usually reliable Yassin Essa missed and it was still game on.
The miss clearly didn’t play on the mind of the striker and he soon made amends when he buried a Chopin cross in the 64th minute from outside the box to give the Caps a 2-1 lead.
PA Classics had to chase the game now to keep their playoff hopes alive. Vancouver took full advantage of the extra space and Bustos grabbed his second of the game and his fourth of the week when he put away an Essa cross in the 75th minute.
The Caps easily saw out the last fifteen minutes and the final whistle sparked huge celebrations on the Vancouver bench.
The Caps line-up was:
Sean Melvin; Quinton Duncan, Jackson Farmer, Nicholas Prasad, Sam Adekugbe; Mitch Piraux, Kianz Froese (Jordan Haynes 65), Marco Bustos; Titouan Chopin (Matthew van der Eyden 90), Yassin Essa (Matthew Chow 84), Brody Huitema.
It was another great performance from the young Caps.
Three wins takes their unbeaten streak to 15 now and they have only lost one game all year.
The squad now return to Vancouver and will have two weeks to prepare until they head back to Houston on July 14th with a chance to go one better than being runners-up in last year’s national Championship game.
In the form they are currently in, you wouldn’t bet against them.
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