No team in the USL's Western Conference was better than the Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 in the first half of the season. Through the club's first 15 games, WFC2 amassed 29 points (8-2-5) and sat in first place.
In the second half of the season, no Western Conference team earned more points than the Swope Park Rangers. In the club's final 15 games, SPR picked up 28 points (8-3-4) and climbed nine spots in the standings.
On Saturday, the two teams will meet at 7:30 p.m. CT at Swope Soccer Village in the Western Conference Final for a chance to lift the conference's championship trophy and earn a berth in the 2016 USL Cup Final. Tickets start as low as $12 and are available to purchase online at Ticketmaster.com.
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC 2
Regular season record: 12-9-9, 45 points
Home record: 7-4-4 | Away record: 5-5-5
Goals scored: 44 (1.47 per game) | Goals against: 44
Postseason seeding: 6th in West
2-1 win at Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC (Sept. 30)
3-2 win vs OKC Energy FC (Oct. 8)
Season series vs SPR: 2-0-0
April 27: 2-1 road win
June 12: 3-2 home win
KANSAS CITY TIES
The Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 are led by head coach Alan Koch, who spent two years in Baldwin City, Kansas as the men's soccer coach at Baker University in 2006 and 2007. The club captain is 26-year-old Kyle Greig, who starred at Olathe South High School and Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan. in addition to playing with the Sporting KC Academy U-19's and Kansas City Brass.
Greig scored 11 goals in the regular season, eighth most in the USL, and has scored in both WFC2 postseason matches to date. His outstanding season earned him three appearances for the senior team in the CONCACAF Champions League group stage.
WHO TO WATCH FOR
Forward Daniel Haber, 24, has played in every match for WFC2 this season and propelled his side into the Western Conference Final with a 89th-minute game-winning goal last weekend. He scored seven goals and added four assists in the regular season, including the game-winning assists in both victories over the Swope Park Rangers.
Defender Sem de Wit leads the team in minutes played and, at 21 years of age, is part of a youthful squad. In the Western Conference Semifinals, WFC2 started three 18-year-olds (Kadin Chung, Matthew Baldisimo and Thomas Gardner).
ON LOAN FROM MLS
WFC2 have utilized five players on loan from Vancouver Whitecaps FC so far in the USL Cup Playoffs: Marco Bustos, Alphonso Davies, Kianz Froese, Brett Levis and Cole Seiler. Two additional postseason participants -- forward Thomas Sanner and goalkeeper Spencer Richey -- were taken by Vancouver in the MLS SuperDraft.
Bustos and Davies, who both ranked among the Top 10 players in the USL's 20 under 20 series, combined to score all three goals in the previous meeting between WFC2 and SPR. Last month, the 15-year-old Davies became the second-youngest player to start a match in MLS history and scored a stoppage-time game winner against Sporting KC in the CONCACAF Champions League.
