For two teams that came into Saturday night’s match hoping to find their spark in the scoring department, the Loons and Whitecaps wasted no time in attacking the matter at hand. A quick-paced first half saw both MNUFC and Vancouver find numerous counter attack opportunities that required both goalkeepers to stand on their heads to keep things at bay. “Quick-paced” would give way to “frenetic” in the second half, as the second 45 saw a similar back-and-forth attacking effort from both sides, but with more of the opportunities finding the back of the net. In the end, the Loons would run out of time in their effort to bring the match even, dropping a close one to the Whitecaps, 3-2.
Vancouver would draw first blood in the 17th minute following a costly midfield turnover by the Loons that Whitecaps midfielder Andres Cubas would take on a fast break and find an open Brian White, putting the Whitecaps on the board, 1-0. Minnesota’s aggressive approach to offense would pay off not much later after that, when in the 33rd minute, Michael Boxell found himself in the right place in the goal box at the right time, putting away a deflection from close range. 1-1, even.
A beauty of a save by a sliding St. Clair towards the end of the first half was able to preserve the tie score as the clubs headed to their respective locker rooms. Vancouver came out of the half firing. It didn’t take too long after kicking off the second half when, in the 52nd minute, it was Vancouver’s Ranko Veselinović’s header that found Brian White after he collided with Dayne St. Clair, ricocheting right to White’s right foot and in. 2-1, Whitecaps.
White would be subbed out, and Simon Becher would come in and take less than a minute to make his presence well-known, scoring right away in the 56th minute off an assist from Vancouver midfielder Ryan Gauld.
The two quick goals by the Caps would leave the Loons a bit stunned, but far from out of it. In the 65th minute, some hope of a comeback would take root when Robin Lod’s through ball upfield would roll right-on-the-money at midfielder Sang Bin Jeong’s feet. He put a beauty of a touch shot out of the reach of Vancouver’s Yohei Takaoka to bring the score to 3-2, Whitecaps.
The Loons would find more legit scoring opportunities, specifically in the 72nd minute, when another tasty through ball, this time from Kemar Lawrence found an open Ménder García, who wasn’t able to put enough mustard on the ball and was denied by the keeper Takaoka. That wouldn’t be the last golden opportunity for the Loons to claw all the way back to even. The next near goal came in the 93rd minute of stoppage time, when García had a beautiful cross that found a waiting Kemar Lawrence, who would find himself at too difficult of an angle to strike the ball cleanly and wound up shanking the ball to the left to go out of bounds. That would give way to a last-ditch chance to bring things even by Sang Bin in stoppage time, but his curving laser shot from just outside the goal box would fly just over the right corner of the goal.
That shot would end up being the last play of a hard-fought heartbreaker to a Vancouver club that continues to trend upward. Unfortunately for the Loons, the hard times continue as they leave Vancouver without a win they hoped would jumpstart a pivot to winning ways once again. Now, the boys head back to the Land of 10,000 Lakes with a whole bunch of questions as to how they can flip the script and find their mojo again.
UP NEXT
U.S. Open Cup Round of 32
Minnesota United FC vs. Philadelphia Union
Allianz Field | St. Paul, MN
05.09.23 | 7:30 pm CT (Buy Tickets)
