Vancouver Whitecaps rounded off eight Cascadian derbies in nine days at SFU this afternoon, and they did it in some style.
The Caps' U16 and U18 teams were both in USSDA action against their Seattle Sounders counterparts, in what turned out to be two explosive games, with eleven goals, two hat tricks, two missed penalties, a sending off, numerous missed chances and so many bookings that even the officials lost count.
The U18's kicked proceedings off by hammering the Sounders 9-0, and it was nine going on nineteen.
It's not often you see an absolute rout in football these days, but this was one of them.
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The Caps opened the scoring in the 18th minute.
Ben McKendry set Caleb Clarke free on the left and his pace left the Seattle defenders for dead, before cutting the ball back perfectly to Yassin Essa to fire in off the crossbar from the edge of the box.
Two minutes later it was two, when Essa volleyed home a Wesley Cain cross from the right.
Three minutes after that it was three!
Ben Fisk sent a low corner in from the right, Cain helped it on and McKendry buried it from inside the six yard box.
Fisk acted as provider again for the fourth goal, breaking on the left before sending a perfect ball into Clarke to finish.
As half-time approached, Clarke got his second, and the Caps fifth, when he used his bulk and pace to knock the last Seattle defender off the ball, before having the easy task of slotting home under the despairing McKay Owsley, who had been subbed in after the Sounders went four down.
You know it's not going well when you pull your goalie and it's still the first half!
Vancouver's goalfest continued into the second half and it was great to see the same intensity from the guys, with no letting up.
Fisk and Clarke broke away for the Caps, with Fisk grabbing another assist when he cut the ball inside to Clarke, who looked like he'd taken it a touch too far, before recovering, rounding the keeper and grabbing his hat-trick.
The seventh goal came in the 58th minute and this time Fisk was to get his name on the scoresheet, finishing superbly at the near post from the tightest of angles, after a great ball from Alex Rowley had played him in.
Six minutes later and it was eight.
Clarke sent a cross in from the right to Spencer DeBoice at the back post. His shot was blocked, but as it rebounded up into the air, Essa was on hand to head home and grab the second Caps hat-trick of the match.
It was nearly nine two minutes later, when some fancy footwork from DeBoice finished with him sending a great cross into the box, which was met perfectly by the head of Cain, only to be thwarted by a leg save from the keeper.
It was only delaying the inevitable by three minutes and goal number nine came in the 69th minute when Cain drilled home a long range rocket.
The Caps, and the fans in attendance, wanted ten and only an acrobatic save by the Sounders keeper from another Cain header stopped them getting that in the 79th minute.
The resultant corner fell to Clarke at the back post and his shot was scrambled off the line.
Vancouver did have the ball in the net for a tenth time with eight minutes remaining, when DeBoice knocked in a Cain cross through the keeper's legs, only to be denied by a late offside flag.
Seattle had the chance to grab a little bit of self pride a minute later, but even wasted that opportunity when Aaron Kovar blasted a pity penalty off the crossbar, although Callum Irving looked to have had it covered if it had been on target anyway.
The tenth Caps goal sadly never came and we had to settle for just a 9-0 drubbing instead!
It's always nice to beat any Sounders team, but to do it in such a fashion was particularly pleasing and sets the guys up for the U18 playoffs perfectly.
Caleb's hat-trick takes him to 24 goals in 22 U18 games this season, whilst Yassin's hat-trick moves him to 16 goals in 23 games.
The Caps U18's line up was as follows:
Callum Irving; Declan Rodriguez, Jason van Blerk, Daniel Stanese, Adam Polakiewicz (Tim Hickson 67); Alex Rowley, Ben McKendry (Carlos Patino 71), Wesley Cain; Ben Fisk (Spencer DeBoice 60), Caleb Clarke, Yassin Essa
After the game, a German man asked me if the Sounders future looked bright. Nein, I said.
It's hard to follow a game like that, but the U16's did an excellent job in doing so, with a 2-0 victory in a top of the table match-up spoiled by an officious, card happy referee.
It was a mark of how well the U16's have developed this season. They were easily outclassed in a 4-0 drubbing down at Starfire in December, but they've worked hard and really come on to their game, and the results were evident today.
The Caps took the lead just five minutes in when Sebastian Cabrera hit a rocket home, after some good build up play on the left.
Seattle had a chance to level midway through the half, when they were awarded a soft penalty for handball in the box in the 36th minute.
Up stepped Jalen Markey, but Whitecaps keeper Marco Carducci got down well to his left to keep the Sounders at bay (as you can see below):
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Carducci had turned in a "man of the match" performance in the <a href="http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?2578-Whitecaps-Under-18s-Pride-Of-Cascadia" target="_blank">game in December</a>, and he had another strong performance this afternoon.
The Caps went in one up at the break and the second half saw both teams in full battle mode and looking for the next goal.
Isidro Prado-Huerta hit the post for Seattle, before Kalifala Konneh blasted over from close range for Vancouver.
The game's turning point came when Seattle went down to ten men midway through the second half following a stamping incident.
It was a straight red and one of just many cards shown.
We're not exaggerating when we say that the referee must have booked nearly every player on the pitch during the game. We actually asked him after the match how many bookings it was and one of the linesmen told us that they were still counting it up and needed three hands to count them!
The Caps soon turned up the heat and nearly doubled their lead when Sam Adekugbe sent a perfect ball across the goal from the left, with Brody Huitema just inches away from getting a foot on it as he slid in.
The Sounders had a great chance to level in the closing minutes following a defensive mix up, but fired wide of the left hand post with the goal gaping.
Vancouver were to make them pay with a second goal soon after.
Jordan Haynes nutmegged a Sounder to set up Adekugbe on the left, and this time the left back's great cross into the box was met by Huitema and the deadly marksman made no mistake to fire home from close range.
The goal was Huitema's 19th goal in 21 U16 matches for the Caps this season, and it is little wonder that the striker is already garnering interest from a number of US colleges.
He is definitely a Caps MLS player for the future and some of his flicks and skills are just sublime for any player, never mind a 16 year old.
The final whistle soon came and the Caps had a well deserved 2-0 victory that secured the top spot in the USSDA Western Conference Northwest Division for the Caps and a vital top seeding for the playoffs in Dallas later this month.
The Caps U16's line up was as follows:
Marco Carducci; Quinton Duncan, Alex Comsia, Jackson Farmer, Sam Adekugbe; Matthew Chow (Titouan Chopin 65), Liam Elbourne (Marco Bustos 45), Mitch Piraux, Sebastien Cabrera (Jordan Haynes 72); Sadi Jalali (Kalifala Konneh 60), Brody Huitema
If both the U16 and U18 sides keep up their recent form, then we could be seeing some more silverware in the Whitecaps trophy cabinet by the end of July.
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