Whitecaps advance to Canadian Championship semis with win over York United
The Vancouver Whitecaps opened defence of their Canadian Championship title with a 4-1 quarterfinal victory over York United FC on Wednesday, a result that means the road to the Voyageurs Cup now goes through B.C. for them.
The Whitecaps will visit the winner of Pacific FC and semi-pro TSS Rovers FC, the all-B. C. quarterfinal later Wednesday in Langford, in the May 23 semifinal. If it keeps winning, Vancouver will host either CF Montreal or CPL champion Forge FC in the championship game at B.C. Place Stadium on June 6.
Vancouver coach Vanni Sartini said his team, which as champion had a preliminary-round bye, talked about the importance of the cup competition prior to the game.
The game was scoreless until the 64th minute with four more goals coming after the 75th minute.
"I thought for 60 minutes we did a lot right," said York coach Martin Nash. "Once they scored the goal, we lost our way a little bit to be fair."
"For 60 minutes, it was very hard," echoed Sartini.
"In the end, I think we won comfortably," he added. "I think the 4-1 [scoreline] is even too much against them. Probably a two-goal lead would be the right, I would say, distance for the game."
York conceded an own goal with the Whitecaps' Simon Becher and Levonte Johnson adding insurance goals. Austin Ricci pulled one back for York in the 90th minute only to see Vancouver's Julian Gressel score on a stoppage-time penalty.
Calm, cool, collected Gressel slots in his PK to make it 4!!! <a href="https://twitter.com/JulianGressel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JulianGressel</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/VWFC?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#VWFC</a>| <a href="https://twitter.com/onesoccer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@onesoccer</a> <a
