Caps In College 2013: Week 3 round-up with Brody Huitema’s first two NCAA goals

Another busy few days of college action and some more excellence shown by Vancouver Whitecaps Residency graduates and PDL players in NCAA and CIS action.

Lots of goals from the guys and lots to enjoy from BC’s big three – SFU, UBC and UVIC.

It was also a week that saw the first official collegiate goals from Residency goalscoring sensation Brody Huitema for Duke University.

SFU

It was a close match for the SFU Clan in their 2013 home opener before they eventually defeated Hawaii Pacific by a score of 2-1. The visitors opened the scoring in the twelfth minute when they converted a free kick beat Brandon Watson at the near post.

Twenty minutes later the Clan responded when Johan Blagojevic headed in a Colin Jacques throw in, tying the match at one. With two minutes left in the half Blagojevic returned the favour by sending a cross to the far post that was converted by Jacques.

That was to prove to be the winner. Neither side were able to find the net in the second half and the one goal victory saw SFU go to a 3-0-0 record.

SFU’s Saturday match against Trinity Lutheran wasn’t so close, with the Clan scoring nine times while claiming the shutout. It took the Clan less than a minute to get on the board with senior Carlo Basso converting a penalty kick. They scored two more times in the first half with Colin Jacques getting both, the first one came off a deflection and the second headed in off a cross from Basso.

The next six goals came in the final twenty minutes with Whitecaps Residency graduate Jason Van Blerk opening the barrage with a header off a cross from fellow Residency alum Alex Rowley. A hat trick from Glen Paden and a brace from Lucas Ferritto would close the scoring while Delta’s Toscanny Pandu-Oesman picked up the cleansheet.

SFU’s 4-0-0 record has seen them move to the number one spot in the NSCAA rankings, whilst Glenn Paden was named the GNAC Offensive Player of the Week.

The Clan hit the road for the next two matches as they travel Thursday to face Montana State University Billings before heading to Idaho to play Northwest Nazarene on Saturday.

CIS

Looking to rebound from their first loss in almost two years the UBC Thunderbirds played a home and home series with Trinity Western with the first match ending in a 5-1 victory at Thunderbird Stadium on Friday evening. Four of the goals came from players with Whitecaps connections.

The opening goal came around the quarter hour mark when Sean Einarsson sent in a cross along the deck that was tapped in by Caps PDL player Niall Cousens.

It would stay close until the 60th minute when another former Whitecaps PDL’er, Reynold Stewart, had a blocked shot fall to him which he fired past the keeper to double UBC’s lead. A few minutes later they put the game to rest when Residency graduate Navid Mashinchi converted a penalty to increase the advantage to three. A header by fellow graduate Paul Clerc and a volley by Milan Mehrabi made it five, before a late response by Trinity Western would close out the scoring for the opening tilt. You can see highlights of the game below.

The change of venue to Langley didn’t help Trinity Western the following evening as the Thunderbirds continued their dominance with a 6-1 win, with four of the goals again coming from players with Whitecaps connections. It only took ten minutes for UBC to take the lead when Paul Clerc scored his second in as many nights. Around the half hour mark the visitors would double their lead when Reynold Stewart converted a Milad Mehrabi pass for the eventual winner.

A flurry of three goals within four minutes saw Stewart pick up his second of the match and Sean Einarsson put UBC up by four before the home side pulled one back to go into the half at 4-1. Mehrabi scored five minutes after the break while Caps PDL star Harry Lakhan completed the scoring by the 60th minute to make it a half dozen for UBC.

University of Victoria hit the prairies for a two game swing which they opened with a win when they defeated Winnipeg 4-2. The Vikes took the lead in the 13th minute when Cam Stokes tapped in a low cross at the far post and then doubled ten minutes later when third year player Craig Gorman completed a pass from Stokes.

Gorman then turned into a playmaker when he assisted on Whitecaps PDL star Cam Hundal’s eventual game winner before the half. With just over twenty minutes to go Dominic Colantonio stretched the lead to four before Winnipeg pulled back two goals in the last 15 minutes.

They continued their trip west to battle Mount Royal to a 3-1 win extending their winning streak to three games. The first goal of the game came in the 12th minute when Craig Gorman setup Sam Prette for his first of the season.

The game winner came just before the half when the Vikes counter attacked and Cam Hundal scored his fourth goal in four games. Victoria native Kurt Macauly would score the third goal with five minutes to go in the match while Mount Royal converted a penalty in added time.

With their respective performances, Reynold Stewart was named the Canada West ‘Star of the Week’ (which is an all sports award), with Cam Hundal being named the number 2 star.

The Thunderbirds will look to get revenge on Fraser Valley for their only loss of the season on Friday while Victoria will host Trinity Western on the same day. Then on Saturday both teams will face each other in Victoria in what could be a battle for the number one spot in the Canadian West Pacific Division.

CAPS IN COLLEGE – NCAA D1

Ben McKendry started and played 79 minutes for number 9 ranked New Mexico Lobos when they beat Santa Clara 1-0 on Friday evening, but in the second match of the invitational tournament he played 90 minutes in a 3-2 loss to number 11 ranked California State University Northridge. You can watch free video of Ben and all of the Lobos home matches at www.GoLobos.com.

Midfielder Wes Cain picked up an assist on Wright State’s only goal in a 2-1 loss to West Virginia on Friday night, and also played in the 0-0 draw away to Ohio State on Tuesday evening.

UNC-Wilmington struggled in their only game of the week as Sean Melvin made a couple of saves only to lose 3-1 to Elon on Saturday.

Brody Huitema’s Duke Blue Devils played three games in the space of eight days. Huitema started all three games and played 90 minutes as Duke beat Georgia Southern 1-0 at home last Tuesday, before playing 98 minutes in the 1-1 home draw, in which he earned a penalty kick for the team, which was saved.

Brody was in action again last night and scored the first official goals of his collegiate career (after previously scoring in pre-season exhibition games) in the 3-2 comeback overtime win at Davidson, grabbing two goals from six shots. Brody’s first freshman goal came in the 67th minute when he headed in a cross to the back post and he followed that up with the winner with 50 seconds of first overtime remaining.

We thought we’d found You Tube highlights of the two goals but turned out it was just showing Davidson’s goals and not Duke’s.

University of Tulsa right back Quinton Duncan subbed on for 31 minutes in a 1-1 draw against University of Missouri-Kansas City on Friday, while he started the second one of the weekend as Tulsa beat Hartwick 3-2 on Sunday.

University of Milwaukee’s Declan Rodriguez started both games, playing 99 and 78 minutes in 2-1 win over DePaul and a 3-0 win over IUPUI.