The Tacoma Defiance won their fourth straight game, beating the Vancouver Whitecaps 2 4-1 on Saturday. The Defiance have now scored 12 goals during their winning streak. The win also ended Whitecaps 2’s seven-game winning streak and moved the Defiance up to fifth in the MLS Next Pro Western Conference standings.
The Defiance got two goals from Chris Aquino, a goal from Osaze De Rosario and another from Sebastian Gomez, who opened his professional account. Blake Bowen added two assists, while Snyder Brunell had one.
Highlights
Key players
Osaze De Rosario: The Guyana international continued his improved form, scoring the game’s opening goal off a nice cutback pass from Brunell. He only had 16 touches, but six of them were in the opposition penalty box. In nine matches before his recent call-up to Guyana, De Rosario had just two goals in nine appearances. He now has four goals in four games since returning from international duty with his only goal-less game in that stretch coming in a match he played just 21 minutes off the bench.
Chris Aquino: Another player who got off to a slow start who seems to be hitting his stride now is the 18-year-old former Sounders Academy player. Aquino had two goals in this one, the first off a shot from about 24 yards out and the second a penalty. Aquino now has three goals in his last two starts and is regularly showing off impressive skills. In this one, he won 7/13 duels, was 2/3 dribbles, seven recoveries and won 2/3 tackles while completing 38/40 passes.
Travian Sousa: Normally a wide player, Sousa got his first start at centerback. He never really looked out of place. Sousa was 93/98 passing that included 7/10 on long balls and won 5/7 duels. It’s unclear if this was more of an emergency decision due to player availability or something with a bigger vision, but if Sousa can become an adequate centerback that opens another path to making it into MLS.
Standings
Stats
MATCH SUMMARY
Tacoma Defiance 4 – Whitecaps FC 2 1
Sunday, July 14, 2024
Venue: Swangard Stadium
Referee: Mo Mohseni
Assistants: Reda Fazazi, Chris Harrop
Fourth official: Niko Jecanski
Weather: 84 degrees and sunny
SCORING SUMMARY
TAC – Osaze De Rosaio (Blake Bowen) 21’
TAC – Chris Aquino (Blake Bowen) 31’
VAN – Own Goal (Snyder Brunell) 58’
TAC – Chris Aquino (penalty) 64’
TAC – Sebastian Gomez (Snyder Brunell) 74’
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
VAN – Nicolas Fleuriau Chateau (caution) 19'
VAN – Eliot Goldthorp (caution) 36'
VAN – Eliot Goldthorp (ejection) 36'
TAC – Osaze De Rosario (caution) 55’
TAC – Antino Lopez (caution) 56’
TAC – Georgi Minoungou (caution) 77’
TAC – Jacob Castro (caution) 90’
LINEUPS & STATS
Tacoma Defiance – Jacob Castro; Kalani Kossa-Rienzi (Owen O’Malley 75’), Antino Lopez, Travian Sousa; Blake Bowen, Sota Kitahara, Snyder Brunell (Burke Fahling 75’); Chris Aquino, Faysal Bettache – captain (Sebastian Gomez 54’), Yu Tsukanome (Georgi Minoungou 59’); Osaze De Rosario (Gio Miglietti 75’)
Substitutes not used: Lars Helleren, Omar Hassan, Gallatin Sandnes, Etienne Veillard
Total shots: 12
Shots on goal: 5
Fouls: 18
Offside: 6
Corner-kicks: 3
Saves: 3
Whitecaps FC 2 – Max Anchor; Eliot Goldthorp, Finn Linder, Joshue Ndakala (Aidan Fong 82’), Buster Sjoberg, Mihail Gherasimencov; Liam Mackenzie (Cristiano Da Silva 86’), Malcolm Simmons, Malek Mehri (Amoni Thomas 75’); Cyprian Kachwele (David Ajagbe 82’), Nicolas Fleuriau Chateau (Mateo Clark 86’)
Substitutes not used: Matheus De Souza, Dembo Saidykhan
Total shots: 6
Shots on goal: 3
Fouls: 8
Offside: 0
Corner-kicks: 3
Saves: 1
