Saturday’s showdown between the top two teams in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference ended with no movement in the table, thanks to Ian Pilcher.
San Diego FC’s rookie defender scored his first career goal, pulling the club even with the Vancouver Whitecaps in a match that ended in a 1-1 tie.
Coming out of a corner kick, Pilcher blasted a shot from the top of the box that was out of the reach of Vancouver goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka. The goal pulled SDFC even in the 79th minute at Snapdragon Stadium.
For West-leading SDFC (13-4-7), Pilcher’s late-match heroics — which included a critical chase-down in extra time to prevent a Whitecaps FC scoring opportunity — ensured the club remains a point ahead of Vancouver (12-6-5) going into Wednesday’s All-Star Game.
“Ian really grew up today, because he wasn’t next to a veteran guy he could lean on,” SDFC coach Mikey Varas said.
The rookie started alongside fellow first-year player Manu Duah on Saturday.
“The goal was phenomenal,” Pilcher said. “(I was just) trying to create a good position and it fell to my feet. After that it was a bit of a blur, but super nice to do with this club.”
Pilcher’s score also marked the second of the night to come off of an SDFC player.
Manu Duah was charged with an own-goal in the 40th minute, when a shot ricocheted off the center back and squirted into the goal.
SDFC goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega, playing for the injured C.J. dos Santos, could not adjust in time.
Sisniega denied the Vancouver right back Édier Ocampo in the 37th minute with a well-timed dive to his right.
Sisniega again stopped Ocampo, this time going to the bottom-left corner.
Vancouver’s Mathias Laborda followed up on the carom, and Duah’s attempt to block resulted in the goal.
The pivotal sequence followed a stretch spanning most of the previous 20 minutes in which SDFC threatened but could not break through with a score. The home club’s two best chances came on an Anders Dreyer shot from right of the box that was saved by Takaoka in the 23rd minute.
Four minutes later, Luca de la Torre fired off a shot from straight on that sailed just over the crossbar. Moments before the first of Sisniega’s two saves of Ocampo attempts, Hirving “Chucky” Lozano misjudged a shot from outside the box, resulting in an easy Takaoka save.
The squandered opportunity left SDFC’s All-Star forward biting his jersey in frustration.
SDFC nearly found itself in a two-goal hole shortly before Pilcher delivered the equalizer when Vancouver forward Brian White — moments after exchanging words with Sisniega and getting into a shoving match — missed on a wide-open net.
White beat a diving Sisniega in the 76th minute, but his soft attempt rolled harmlessly right of the goal.
Vancouver attacked again in the ninth minute of extra time, but Sisniega delivered one final sensational save when he leapt to stop a Daniel Rios shot on the final play of the match.
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