Game Recap
Men’s Soccer (Spring Exhibition)
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Vancouver Whitecaps (3) vs. TWU Spartans (0)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SPARTANS PLAY SOLID MATCH VS. WHITECAPS
-TWU can’t quite contain Sebrango and company
LANGLEY, British Columbia – It was a night full of challenges for the 2006-07 CIS Silver Medalist Spartans as they faced the USL First Division Vancouver Whitecaps at home Thursday, April 5. Vancouver forward Eduardo Sebrango scored two in the first and one in the second for a 3-0 Whitecap victory, but the Spartans defended and attacked well in the loss.
Spartan Web Radio Match Archive
“One of the things [we were happy about] was we didn’t give up that many scoring chances. If you look throughout the game, they basically had four chances and scored on three of them, and that’s unfortunate,” said TWU Head Coach Al Alderson after the game. “Other than that we really did a good job defensively, keeping them contained and not giving up good scoring chances.”
It was all Whitecaps in the first three minutes of action as the Spartans gained some comfort on the field with the USL First Division Whitecaps, who culminated a good stretch of control with the first shot of the game in the 3rd minute of the match.
The first chance for the Spartans nearly emerged when TWU forward Nathan Pogue thought he timed a good run in the 9th minute, but was called offside as the Whitecap backline made a timely adjustment.
The Spartan defense were doing a good job holding off a number of Whitecap attacks but was eventually cracked after a couple great offensive plays by the Whitecaps. Vancouver defender Lyle Martin flew up the middle to send a ball to Alfredo Valente left of the TWU box. Valente rang one off the right post. Forty-nine seconds later, it was Valente shooting from the left side again, this time deflected by Spartan goalkeeper Tyler DeJong (1st, Abbotsford), but a favorable rebound resulted in a goal for the Whitecaps when Eduardo Sebrango made sure the ball went to the back of the net.
In the 43rd minute, the Vancouver club increased their lead as Sebrango scored his second goal of the match, heading the ball passed DeJong from a cross by teammate Steve Kindel.
The Spartans had a couple good of chances, but unlike the visiting team could not capitalize. A run by Adrian Kekec (3rd, Burnaby) was broken up by Whitecap keeper Srdjan Djekanovic in the 13th minute. Later on in the half, forward Nathan Pogue (2nd, Seaside) nearly scored when he got a foot on a throw just a few feet out of Djekanovic’s hand.
“From an attacking standpoint we actually carved through a couple times and got into some very good places and were really very unlucky not to score on some of those,” commented Alderson.
TWU went into the half trailing 2-0, while the shot-count was 9-2 for the visiting USL professional team.
The Spartans nearly closed in on the Whitecap lead when Nick Perugini (4th, Montreal) took a free kick that almost found the net off a deflection.
Sebrango continued his strong play and managed to make sure of one more good chance, collecting his third goal of the game on a breakaway in the 64th minute.
TWU has three players with experience playing for the Vancouver club: Stefan Leslie, Adrian Kekec and Diaz Kambere, who suited up as a Whitecap for the match.
Alderson closed his comments of the match with a reflection on the value of playing great competition: “It’s good for my guys to recognize that they still have areas to improve on and that’s the great thing about going up against a professional team, an A-league champion, is to get to see some of your weaknesses exploited, and you really get see the areas you need to work on.”
The Spartan’s play three away games to finish out the spring season, the first on April 7th at Western Washington followed by another game at Western Washington versus Gonzaga on April 14th. Lastly, the TWU men are scheduled to face Oregon on the 28th of April.
Match Notes: Shots: TWU 4 Whitecaps 11...SOG TWU 2 Whitecaps 4...Saves TWU 3 Whitecaps 2...Tonight's match was broadcast live on TWU's Spartan Web Radio...live stats were also available on line on the TWU Athletics site...
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