Sporting Kansas City II (7-8-5, 28 points) picked up a point at home against Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 (9-5-5, 34 points) in a 4-5 defeat in kicks from the spot after a 1-1 end to regulation at Rock Chalk Park. The Friday night fight saw Maouloune Goumballe tally the seventh goal of his rookie campaign before a controversial call in stoppage time gave WFC 2 a penalty.
A starting XI featuring six players affiliated with the Sporting KC Academy saw 17-year-old Jacob Molinaro start in goal and make three clutch saves. Carson Klein, Chris Rindov, Leo Christiano and Mason Visconti comprised a back four that kept Vancouver at bay for most of the 90 minutes. Cielo Tschantret played in the middle with Sebastian Cruz and Kamron Habibullah while Shane Donovan and Beto Avila played in the front three alongside Goumballe.
In kicks from the spot, Molinaro denied Vancouver's third kicktaker following a Kansas City miss, however, the Whitecaps took the extra point in one round of sudden death penalties.
Habibullah, squaring off with his former club, took on the defense for the first box entry of the night in the third minute. After briefly losing possession, he found Tschantret at the top of the box where he pushed the shot wide of the goal. Vancouver's first attack came after several lucky bounces inside the 18, however, the attack fizzled in the form of a poor cross through the box.
On several occasions, the post proved to be in opposition to Sporting KC II, first denying Rindov in the ninth and then rearing its ugly head in the shootout later in the evening. Rindov rose to meet the cross off a Habibullah set piece and redirected right into the right post where it bounced away from goal.
In the 13th and 14th, a pair of WFC 2 shots went wide as they launched a series of attacks. A foul outside the SKC II box gave them a golden look, but Donovan stood tall and blocked the free kick before clearing it up the field. Goumballe saw several chances barely miss the target, first poking a shot off frame in the 23rd and then again in the second half.
Goalkeeper Max Anchor had to deny his own teammate in the middle of his net after an errant clearance drifted too close to his net in the 26th. Eleven minutes later, Habibullah tested Anchor with a skipping, one-time shot which the keeper saved. The 40th minute produced Sporting's lone goal on the night after Avila was hammered down inside the 18. Goumballe confidently strode to the spot and blasted his kick past Anchor, into the back of the net.
Anchor made one more save in the first off a rip from Avila which took a wicked deflection off a defender. In stoppage time of the first half, the match took a turn when Rindov was whistled for a foul, seemingly outside the box. A penalty kick was awarded and converted by Nicholas Fleurian Chateau to even the score before the break.
Coming out of the half, first-teamer Danny Flores came on in place of Tschantret as the only sub of the half. Cruz cut up the defense in the 49th but could not get a shot off his foot due to late swarming defenders. Five minutes after that Avila chipped a shot over the mark before Molinaro made a strong save and hold in the middle of his goal.
Ethan Bryant came on for Donovan in the 71st as the final SKC II sub of the night. Molinaro made a pair of stops in the 80th and 84th to keep the scoreline even and Christiano came up clutch with a key intervention to stop a one-v-one in the 89th.
SKC II offered three opportunities for a late winner in stoppage time, the first a lofty effort off Goumballe's right which whizzed over the top. Avila was then saved by Anchor before Rindov's header drifted inches over the goal.
The match was decided in kicks from the spot where Vancouver outlasted Sporting 5-4. Four of the first five kicktakers made theirs for both sides before the sudden death SKC II take pinged off the crossbar and out. Vancouver made the next attempt and took home the extra point.
Sporting KC II will be back on the road in their next match when they travel to Arlington for a matchup with North Texas SC on Saturday, August 10 at Choctaw Stadium. The match will stream live on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
Score | 1 | 2 | F |
Sporting Kansas City II (7-8-5, 28 points) | 1 | 0 | 1 (4) |
Whitecaps FC 2 (9-5-5, 34 points) | 1 | 0 | 1 (5) |
Sporting Kansas City II: Jacob Molinaro; Carson Klein, Chris Rindov, Leo Christiano, Mason Visconti; Cielo Tschantret (Danny Flores 46'), Sebastian Cruz, Kamron Habibullah; Maouloune Goumballe, Beto Avila, Shane Donovan (Ethan Bryant 71')
Subs Not Used: Jack Kortkamp, Medgy Alexandre, Haris Alisah, Demarre Montoute, Jonathan Robinson
Whitecaps FC 2: Max Anchor; Elijah Bean, Joshue Ndakala, Buster Sjoberg, Dembo Saidykhan (Emmanuel Mathe 69'), Mihail Gherasimencov (Miles Morgan 63'); Malek Mehri, Luca Chen, Mateo Clark (Malcolm Simmons 69'); Liam Mackenzie, Nicholas Fleurian Chateau
Subs Not Used: Alexander Milosevic, Sahil Deo, Yuma Tsukiji
Scoring Summary:
SKC – Maouloune Goumballe 7 (penalty kick) 40'
VAN – Nicholas Fleurian Chateau 7 (penalty kick) 45+3'
Shootout Summary
SKC – Ethan Bryant (converted)
VAN – Nicholas Fleurian Chateau (converted)
SKC – Kamron Habibullah (missed)
VAN – Miles Morgan (converted)
SKC – Beto Avila (converted)
VAN – Malek Mehri (saved)
SKC – Maouloune Goumballe (converted)
VAN – Buster Sjoberg (converted)
SKC – Danny Flores (converted)
VAN – Malcolm Simmons (converted)
SKC – Mason Visconti (missed)
VAN – Liam Mackenzie (converted)
Misconduct Summary:
SKC – Kamron Habibullah (yellow card; dissent) 17'
SKC – Chris Rindov (yellow card; unsporting conduct) 45+3'
VAN – Malek Mehri (yellow card; dissent) 47'
SKC – Carson Klein (yellow card; unsporting conduct) 62'
Stat | SKC | VAN |
|---|---|---|
Shots | 20 | 13 |
Shots on Goal | 4 | 4 |
Saves | 3 | 3 |
Fouls | 12 | 12 |
Offsides | 2 | 1 |
Corner Kicks | 6 | 3 |
Referee: DeShun Beard
Assistant Referee: William Aten
Assistant Referee: Eric Wood
Fourth Official: Drew Klemp
