The two best teams in MLS’ Western Conference battled to a 1-1 draw Saturday night at Snapdragon Stadium. However, it was
San Diego FC
that actually scored both goals.
San Diego
kicked the ball into its on its own goal during the first half; due to the error, the Vancouver Whitecaps led for a significant chunk of match time without having scored. Then SDFC came back to level things late.
San Diego center back Manu Duah accidentally scored on his own team’s goal from the center of the net during the match’s 40th minute.
Whitecap Édier Ocampo, on the counter-attack, had his shot from the edge of the area parried by diving goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega before Duah’s clearance attempt went into the net; thus Vancouver received the point.
With the score still 1-0 in favor of the visitors in the 79th minute, SDFC center back Ian Pilcher, who made his pro debut in February and was starting only his sixth match of the season, connected with a left-footed shot from the center of the box to the top left corner of the net.
It was the first goal of his MLS career. SDFC left back Luca Bombino picked up the assist.
“The goal was phenomenal,” Pilcher, a 22-year-old rookie, said during the post-match press conference. “It was super-nice to do it with this club.”
Let’s take a minute and appreciate this gargantuan save from Pablo.
pic.twitter.com/K9qUTVLSSC
“I wanna thank God,” he said when asked to whom he dedicated his first goal. “And this is the first match that my family was able to come to, so I wanna thank them,” the North Carolina native added.
Thanks to the draw, San Diego maintains its
narrow lead in the West
, with a record of 13-7-4 and 43 points. Vancouver sits in second, at 12-6-5, and just a hair behind at 42 points.
Vancouver had entered the ‘Dragon on Saturday looking to not only topple San Diego from the top of the table, but to gain revenge. In the June 25 match between the sides, San Diego won 5-3 at Vancouver.
In fact, Vancouver dominated much of this first half Saturday, even without San Diego conceding a goal.
But in the second half, SDFC flipped the script. For example, SDFC took only four shots in the first half, but had 13 in the second.
Conversely, Vancouver took seven shots in the first half, but only two in the second. Over the full 90 minutes, SDFC maintained ball possession for 59% of the match.
“First and foremost, we’re a culture of competition,” SDFC head coach Mikey Varas said during a post-match press conference. “These guys are competitive.”
Star player Chucky Lozano was back in the starting XI after coming off the bench the past few matches. He had been playing limited minutes since returning from a lower leg injury; he’s been hampered off and on by left hamstring issues since early in the season.
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However, SDFC is still hurting. Midfielder Alejandro Alvarado Jr. was out with a knee injury and right back Willy Kumado missed the game due to a hip injury.
Danish forward Marcus Ingvartsen also was unavailable; he hasn’t played since suffering a lower-body injury against Minnesota United in June.
Also, midfielder Anibal Godoy sat out his third consecutive game due to injury, and defender Andres Reyes is still recovering from an injury he sustained in May.
Notes: SDFC has four consecutive matches at home, starting with a Friday contest against Nashville SC. The club then plays three Leagues Cup matches against Liga MX teams at Snapdragon: CF Pachuca on July 29; Tigres UANL on Aug. 1, and Mazatlán FC on Aug. 5.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
