WFC2 Earn Road Draw at Western Conference Rivals Oklahoma City Energy FC
June 25, 2016 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 News Release
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - Whitecaps FC 2 (8W-2L-5D) continued their strong form away from home on Saturday with a 1-1 draw against Oklahoma City Energy FC (5W-2L-5D) at Taft Stadium.
The match got off to an entertaining start with chances exchanged on both ends. Sebastian Dalgaard had the first shot for OKC, firing a long strike that dipped just over the crossbar. A minute later Daniel Haber nearly struck at the other end, making a pair of terrific moves in the box before having his shot blocked. Barely a minute after that, Kadin Chung skipped past a defender in the box and drilled a hard shot just over the bar.
The home side had the next good chance on 17 minutes, as a corner kick went through to striker Danni König but was hit into the side netting.
The 'Caps finally opened the scoring on 26 minutes through the foot of Fatawu Safiu. Deybi Flores sent a great ball forward to the Ghanaian, who then sidestepped goalkeeper Cody Laurendi and tapped it into the open net for a 1-0 lead.
Energy FC came close on 40 minutes when König again found the ball in the box, but centre back Sem de Wit closed him down quickly and Sean Melvin made the save to preserve the lead. The team in green had another chance a minute later, but Melvin again did well to dive to his right and make a save on a Michael Thomas shot.
Despite a strong half, WFC2 would concede an equalizer moments before halftime when Coy Craft, on as a first half substitute for an injured Jose Cuevas, fired a low shot on target that beat Melvin through his legs to make the score 1-1 at the break.
Vancouver came out motivated in the second half. Ben McKendry had an acrobatic effort on 49 minutes when he chested the ball up and volleyed it towards goal, but just wide of the far post. Haber then had a shot on goal on 67 minutes stopped by Laurendi.
A tense moment came with six minutes remaining when Wojciech Wojcik slid to get the ball on target, but once again Melvin was there to get a glove on it and keep the match level. The Victoria native had one more key stop three minutes later to deny Energy FC's Peter Toth.
In the end, no more goals would come as the Blue and White secured a point on the road and remain in first place in the Western Conference.
Next up for head coach Alan Koch and his squad is another road match at Real Monarchs SLC next Saturday, July 2 at Rio Tinto Stadium. The next home match for WFC2 is on Sunday, July 24 versus Sacramento Republic FC on Game at the Game. Tickets are available at whitecapsfc2.com.
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