Aviators Men Lose to Whitecaps 2-0 at Commonwealth Stadium
July 14, 2004 - USL First Division (USL-1)
Edmonton Aviators News Release
Edmonton, July 13 â The Edmonton Aviators Men put up a good fight against the Western Conference powerhouse Vancouver Whitecaps but were beaten by a score of 2-0 tonight.
The Whitecaps took the lead early as Winston Griffiths broke down the left side and sent the ball across to David Xausa who was in all alone. Xausa calmly deposited the ball into the lower right corner of the net in the fifth minute.
The Aviators took control after that pushing forward and getting several good chances.
Vancouver goalkeeper Marques made a good stop in the 13th minute, smothering a hard, skipping shot from Sean Fraser.
Fraser narrowly missed again in the 21st minute as he was sent in by Freddy Akok and put a shot just wide of net.
In the 37th minute, Winston Griffiths of the Whitecaps broke in on goal all alone but was stopped by a diving effort from Edmonton âkeeper Jose Luis Campi.
The first half ended 1-0 in Vancouver's favour.
In the 56th minute, halftime substitute robin Hart, seeing his first action for the Aviators, put in a rebound off a brilliant bicycle kick by Nikola Vignjevic that hit the goalpost, but the goal was disallowed because of an offside.
Vancouver extended their lead to 2-0 in the 66th minute as David Xausa put a laser beam into the top corner of the Aviators' net from 30 yards out.
The Aviators continued to push forward in an effort to get back into the game but couldn't penetrate the experienced Vancouver defence.
"Vancouver capitalized on the chances they had and we didn't," said Aviators Head Coach Ross Ongaro. "That was the difference tonight. There isn't much between these two teams and it was apparent throughout this season series."
The Edmonton Aviators Men will now travel to Milwaukee to take on the Wave United on Saturday July 17th (6:30pm MST). They then return home to face the Portland Timbers at Commonwealth Stadium on Tuesday, July 20th (7pm MST).
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