The Rio Grande Valley FC Toros and Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 played to a 1-1 draw. Deklan Wynne scored for Vancouver and TJ Casner scored for Rio Grande Valley.
RGV’s Justin Bilyeu shot from 35 yards out in the eighth minute. The Whitecaps FC 2 goalkeeper, Sean Melvin, saved his shot comfortably. Kyle Murphy had an opportunity to put the Toros ahead in the 19th minute, but Melvin blocked his header. Vancouver got ahead in the 23rd minute. Gloire Amanda passed the ball back from inside penalty box and found Deklan Wynne. Wynne placed his shot past Toros goalkeeper Calle Brown with his first touch.
Whitecaps FC 2 almost doubled their lead in the 29th minute. A through ball from Marco Bustos enabled Amanda inside the box. Brown got a deflection on the ball as the shot aimed for the upper right hand corner. Before the first half ended, Todd Wharton stopped an offensive build up from Vancouver that could’ve resulted in the second goal for the visitors.
The RGV FC Toros tied things up in the 69th minute. Jorginho James opened the play wide to Eric Bird. Bird crossed the ball towards the far left post. Justin Bilyeu dropped the ball back to TJ Casner who struck the ball into the net for the goal.
Francisco Pungo was on the brink of scoring his first goal for the Toros. Pungo faced Melvin one-on-one but his left footed shot was blocked. In the 88th minute Ruben Luna found Bird alone inside the penalty box. Melvin blocked Bird’s shot and Pungo was not able to capitalize on the rebound.
The Toros next match will be on the road. Rio Grande Valley will visit Real Monarchs SLC on Friday, August 25. The next home match will be on August 30 against Portland Timbers 2.
Scoring:
23’ – VAN – Deklan Wynne (Gloire Amanda)
70’ – RGV – TJ Casner (Justin Bilyeu)
