Thursday night saw two teams with very different agendas walk onto the
pitch at
Foothills Park. The Calgary Storm are finishing out the season, hoping
to gain some
experience and perhaps surpass the point total of the Indiana Blast, who
hold the
A-League’s second worst record. Meanwhile, the Vancouver Whitecaps are
fighting for a
playoff spot in the Western Conference.
The well rested Storm side had not played a competitive game since their
victory over the
Cincinnati Riverhawks on August 2. However, that benefit of that break
could not match
the Whitecaps talent and experience as the Storm fell to Vancouver 2-1.
The first scoring opportunity of the match occurred in the 6th minute,
when Calgary’s
Jordan Gillespie’s free kick was headed by Liam DeSilva, forcing
Whitecap keeper Jim
Larkin to make a difficult save.
The Storm opened the scoring in the 15th minute when DeSilva got the
ball to Waldo
Dutra in the box. Dutra chested the ball down and launched a volley
that went into the
top left corner.
Vancouver’s first quality chance occurred in the 37th minute when Storm
keeper Jamie
Glasnovic bobbled the ball, but Niall Thompson was unable to get a
decent shot during
the scramble in the box.
In the 40th minute, Storm youngster Brett Bachelu whiffed on a great
pass from Gillespie
that surely would’ve put the Storm up by two.
As the half entered its final moments, the game started to get a bit
rough. Niall
Thompson elbowed DeSilva in the head while waiting for a Storm free kick
to be
launched. After a shoving match, the half was completed with both
Thompson and
DeSilva receiving yellow cards.
The hardy gathering in Calgary barely got back into theirs seats for the
second half when
the Whitecaps tied the match. In the 48th minute, Thompson was
positioned by the right
post and converted a Jeff Clarke pass with a header that beat Glasnovic
Vancouver assumed the lead in the 66th minute. An unmarked Oliver Heald
received
Alfredo Valente’s corner kick and made no mistake with the header.
Heald almost scored a second goal in the 70th minute when he was
expertly set up by
Paul Dailly, but he was unable to put it by Glasnovic.
The Storm tried to battle back. In the 80th minute, substitute Nik
Ledgerwood’s corner
was almost redirected into the goal by a diving Dutra, but the ball went
wide right.
The 86th minute marked a proud moment for the Storm when 16 year old
phenom Ryan
Gyaki took the pitch and made his pro debut. Gyaki is leaving for
Europe next week
where he’ll have tryouts with English clubs Sheffield United and
Tottenham Hotspur.
Nicholas Zuniga had a final chance to even the match in the 89th minute,
but his shot
missed the goal. The final score was Vancouver 2 Calgary 1.
Calgary’s next match will be their final home game of the season. The
Storm will battle
the Montreal Impact next Friday at 6:30pm.
Lineups:
Calgary: Glasnovic, Sestito (Ledgerwood 71), DeSilva, Wheeldon,Pesznecker,
Gillespie (Zuniga 79), Auvigne, Chala, Dutra (Gyaki 86), Jesic, Bachelu (Lemire 55)
Vancouver: Larkin, Franks, Dasovic, Dailly, Valente, Heald, Lyall, King (Berg 46,
Cameron 66) , Clarke, Kindel, Thompson
Goals:
Calgary: Dutra (15th)
Vancouver: Thompson (48th), Heald (66th)
Cautions:
Calgary: Chala (28), DeSilva (45th), Gillespie (61st)
Vancouver: Thompson (45th), Dailly (89th)
Attendance: approximately 1000
Weather: approximately 15C (60F) with intermittent light rain.
STORM WARNINGS:
The Calgary trio of Chris Lemire, Waldo Dutra and Nik Ledgerwood
returned from their
tour of duty with the Canada U20 team in Houston. Dutra scored two
goals in three
games for the national side. In Friday’s game he definitely showed
confidence gained
from the experience...Kurt Bosch, Calgary’s best player of late, sat out
because of
suspension resulting from excessive yellow cards. Bosch was recently
named to the
A-League team of the week. Martin Dugas also missed the match with a
groin
strain...John Hawreliak has assumed the role of the Storm’s backup
keeper. He was the
starter for the PDL side this summer. Irish keeper Alan Flanagan has
returned to Europe
after a lone appearance for Calgary...Lars Hirschfeld has officially
been sold to
Tottenham Hotspur of the English Premier League. Terms were not
disclosed, but will be
based on the young keeper’s number of appearances and other factors,
such as future
contracts and if Spurs sells him for a profit in the future. The Storm
alumnus has
impressed in England and his presence may spell the end for one of the
two veteran
keepers, who both want more playing time. One of those keepers is
American Kasey
Keller...This game was a Voyageurs Cup match, but both clubs are out of
contention for
the title. The Toronto Lynx can clinch the trophy with a win over
Montreal on Sunday.
