2009 Vancouver Whitecaps season

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

2009 season
Manager	Teitur Thordarson
USL-1	7th
USL-1 Playoffs	Runners-Up
Voyageurs Cup	Runners-Up
Highest home attendance	5,886 Oct 10 vs MI
Lowest home attendance	4,516 Oct. 1 vs PT
Average home league attendance	5,312
Home colours Away colours
← 2008 2010 →

The 2009 Vancouver Whitecaps season was the club's 24th year of existence (or 34th if counting the NASL Whitecaps), as well as their 17th and 2nd last year as a Division 2 club in the franchise model of US-based soccer leagues. Vancouver was officially named an MLS expansion city on March 18, 2009.^[1] Following the end of the 2010 season, the Whitecaps FC joined MLS, becoming the second Canadian club and 19th overall (counting contracted franchises) to enter the league.^[2][3]

The 2009 season started in an up and down fashion including three game winning and losing streaks before ending the season with only one loss in their last ten games. The USL-1 league was a closely contested affair with the Whitecaps a member of an intermediate trifecta in the standings separated by less than three points.^[4] The Whitecaps overcame the Railhawks and Timbers in tight, hard won playoff series before finishing as runners-up to the Montreal Impact in a dramatic playoff final series.^[5][6]

The Whitecaps also finished second in the 2009 Voyaguers Cup in a controversial fashion after Montreal rested important players for their following USL-1 league match against the Whitecaps.

2009 Montreal Controversy

• 18–06–2009 : After losing any chance to win the round robin, the Impact lose 1-6 to TFC giving the Voyageurs Cup to TFC over Vancouver on goal difference while coach Marc Dos Santos rests key players for the league match against Vancouver two days later. The Vancouver Whitecaps team attended the TFC-Impact game.^[7]
• 20–06–2009 : Two days later Montreal Impact win their USL-1 league game 2-1 against Vancouver. The Montreal Ultras protest against Impact management's unsportsmanlike behaviour two days earlier during the first half.^[8]
• 18–09–2009 : End of the season league standings...the extra 3 pts Montreal got against Vancouver is also the difference between 5th and 7th putting the Whitecaps at a lower seed in the USL season ending playoff tournament.
• 17–10–2009 : Montreal Impact win the league playoff final's second leg 3-1 at home with the Whitecaps playing shorthanded due to a second sending off in a row, and Montreal wins the USL-1 Championship 6-3 on aggregate.^[9]

Schedule and results

Tables

  Commissioner's Cup, bye to semifinal round of playoffs
  Quarterfinal round of playoffs

Pos	Club	Pts	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	H2H Pts
1	Portland Timbers	58	30	16	10	4	45	19	+26
2	Carolina RailHawks	55	30	16	7	7	43	19	+24
3	Puerto Rico Islanders	53	30	15	8	7	44	31	+13	PUE: 6 pts CHA: 3 pts
4	Charleston Battery	53	30	14	11	5	33	21	+12
5	Montreal Impact	43	30	12	7	11	32	31	+1
6	Rochester Rhinos	43	30	11	10	9	34	32	+2
7	Vancouver Whitecaps	42	30	11	9	10	42	36	+6
8	Minnesota Thunder	31	30	7	10	13	39	44	−5
9	Miami FC	29	30	8	5	17	26	52	−26
10	Austin Aztex	21†	30	5	8	17	28	51	−23
11	Cleveland City Stars	19	30	4	7	19	22	52	−30

^† Austin deducted two points for fielding an ineligible player on July 25, 2009^[10]

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	Pts	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD
30	42	11	10	9	42	36	+6	9	3	3	26	15	+11	2	7	6	16	21	−5

Last updated: April 26, 2010
Source: uslsoccer.com
Pld = Matches played; Pts = Points; W = Matches won; T = Matches tied; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference

  Win   Draw   Loss

Pre-season

USL-1

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Ground	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	A	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	H	A	A	H	H
Result	D	L	D	W	W	W	L	L	L	W	L	D	W	L	L	W	W	D	L	L	D	D	D	W	D	W	D	L	W	W

Last updated: February 28, 2014.
Source:
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: T = Tie; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

^[11]

Post-season

Voyaguers Cup

Standings

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Toronto FC	4	3	0	1	8	3	+5	9
Vancouver Whitecaps FC	4	3	0	1	5	1	+4	9
Montreal Impact	4	0	0	4	1	10	−9	0

Toronto FC qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League qualifying round.

Results

Cascadia Cup

2009

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD
Portland Timbers	6	3	2	1	0	3	1	+2
Vancouver Whitecaps	3	3	1	2	0	1	3	-2

Staff

Professional teams

• President – Bob Lenarduzzi
• Director of professional teams – Greg Anderson
• Manager professional teams – Lindsay Puchlik
• Manager communications – Nathan Vanstone
• Head coach men's – Teitur Thordarson
• Assistant coach, men's – Todd Wawrousek
• Head coach, women's – Alan Koch
• Assistant coach, Women's -
• Women's manager – Diane Voice
• Club logistics manager – Matt Holbrook
• Equipment manager – Darren Woloshen

Youth development

• Youth development director – Dan Lenarduzzi
• Youth development administrator – Marlise Buchi

Professional development program

• Managing director, professional development – Chris Murphy
• Managing director, residency – Thomas Niendorf
• Administrator, residency – Allison Hogg
• Manager, technical programs – Dave Irvine
• Developer, whitecaps interactive – Byron Ribble
• Head coach, prospects boys – Bart Choufour
• Head coach, prospects girls – Jesse Symons

Community soccer system

• Manager, community soccer system – Sam Lenarduzzi

Current roster

Both Jay Nolly and Marcus Haber played all thirty regular season games with Jay Nolly playing every minute of every game. Charles Gbeke was tied for second among the USL-1 point leaders including the league golden boot with 12 goals while Marcus Haber was 7th (with 8 goals) and Marlon James 8th. Wes Knight had eight assists in the league.^[12]

After the 2008 season, the Whitecaps and coach Teitur Thordarson changed the roster much more than in the previous seven years. Some of this was due to a ten-month contract versus the previous norm of an eight-month contract. Look at the preaseason above starting in February with presumably a training camp before hand versus previous years of training camp starting in late March.^[13] For some players with other part-time or off season employment and/or families the extra commitment was too much. Many long time stalwart veteran Whitecap players such as Jeff Clarke, Jason Jordan, Steve Kindel and Alfredo Valente were not on the 2009 roster. Additionally, several other players earning significant playing time over a number of years moved elsewhere. Eduardo Sebrango and back-up goalkeeper Serge Djekanovic started the 2009 season with Canadian rival Montreal while Nicholas Addlery went all the way to Puerto Rico.

Two players who remained to serve as the backbone of the side for 2009 were Martin Nash, the captain, and striker Charles Gbeke for offense. The club added Marco Reda from Charleston, Justin Thompson from Portland, and Ansu Toure from Miami. Foreign players signings included Caribbean internationals Kenold Versailles (Haiti) and Tyrell Burgess (Bermuda), who spent 2008 with the USL PDL's Reading Rage. Another signing for the portion of the season he was with the Whitecaps was former New York Red Bulls defender Jeff Parke.^[14]

All stats as of the end of the season.^[15]

Goalkeeper stats

No.	Nat.	Player	Total					USL-1					Playoffs
			MIN	SV	GA	GAA	SO	MIN	SV	GA	GAA	SO	MIN	SV	GA	GAA	SO
1		Jay Nolly	3240	145	46	1.28	9	2700	118	36	1.20	7	540	27	10	1.67	2

|} Last updated: October 20, 2013
Source:

Player statistics

No.	Pos.	Name	Apps	Minutes	Goals	Assists	Shots	Fouls
			1	GK	Jay Nolly	36	3540	0	0	0	1	2	0
2	DF	Marco Reda	14(2)	1274	2	0	6	12	4	0
4	DF	Justin Thompson	2(2)	226	0	0	1	4	1	0
4	DF	Shaun Pejic	15	1344	0	0	4	9	1	1
4	DF	Wesley Charles	12	1025	0	0	2	15	1	1
6	DF	Luca Bellisomo	12(4)	1168	0	1	4	7	3	0
7	MF	Martin Nash	29	2481	4	3	27	23	5	1
8	DF	Wes Knight	35(1)	2855	1	9	16	35	4	0
9	FW	Marlon James	12(11)	1160	11	2	59	29	4	0
13	MF	Kénold Versailles	9(5)	912	1	0	13	31	4	0
13	MF	Geordie Lyall	2(5)	253	0	0	1	4	1	0
14	FW	Marcus Haber	30(6)	2422	11	4	42	30	2	0
15	MF	Philippe Davies	1(1)	65	0	0	2	2	0	0
16	MF	Ansu Toure	20(7)	1579	1	3	36	16	4	0
17	FW	Randy Edwini-Bonsu	(15)	214	1	1	8	3	0	0
18	DF	Mason Trafford	12(14)	1256	0	2	7	18	2	0
19	MF	Chris Pozniak	11(2)	1009	0	0	6	11	1	0
20	MF	Ethan Gage	9(8)	803	0	0	7	17	1	0
20	FW	Charles Gbeke	28(6)	2338	13	2	79	58	3	1
20	MF	Dever Orgill	2(9)	301	2	1	7	10	2	0
22	DF	Takashi Hirano	33(1)	2954	0	2	6	33	0
23	MF	Vicente Arze	8(10)	797	0	1	14	23	3	0
24	DF	Lyle Martin	19(4)	1728	1	2	12	14	2	0
25	MF	Tyrell Burgess	11(14)	1047	1	2	28	15	2	0
25	MF	Justin Moose	2(10)	323	0	0	2	6	1	0
27	DF	Jeff Parke	7	524	0	0	3	5	1	0
28	MF	Gordon Chin	14(12)	1397	1	4	24	20	3	0
29	MF	Nizar Khalfan	9(5)	729	0	0	20	8	0	0
37	MF	Michael Onwatuegwu	1	45	0	0	0	2	0	0
—	–	Opponent Own goals	–	–	0	–	–	–	–	–

Updated February 28, 2014^[16]
[17]

• Note this list includes only players that have dressed in the eighteen.
• Note brackets indicate substitute appearances.
• Note statistics are for league and playoffs (not preseason). Voyageurs Cup statistics appear to no longer be available.

External links

• Official website

References

1. ↑ "MLS awards Vancouver team for 2011". March 18, 2009. Retrieved March 3, 2014. 
2. ↑ Demosphere International (April 9, 2009). "USL-1 Season Preview – Part I". Retrieved March 3, 2014. 
3. ↑ DiVeronica, Jeff (April 7, 2009). "Islanders heavy favorites heading into the USL season". ESPNFC.com United Soccer Leagues (Archive). Retrieved March 3, 2014. 
4. ↑ Constantineau, Bruce (August 15, 2009). "Caps gear up for drive to playoffs". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved March 3, 2014. 
5. ↑ "Whitecaps and Impact win USL-1 semis". ESPNFC.com. October 5, 2009. Retrieved March 3, 2014. 
6. ↑ Weber, Marc (October 17, 2009). "Montreal Impact end Vancouver Whitecaps' impressive playoff run". whitecapsfc.com. Retrieved March 3, 2009. 
7. ↑ McColl, Michael (June 19, 2009). "Folding Frenchies Kill Whitecaps Dreams". Retrieved April 29, 2013. 
8. ↑ McColl, Michael (June 20, 2009). "Montreal Screws Vancouver Again". Retrieved April 29, 2013. 
9. ↑ "Vancouver Whitecaps Year in Review: Introduction". October 20, 2009. Retrieved April 29, 2013. 
10. ↑ "Austin receives two point deduction". www.uslsoccer.com. July 29, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-11. 
11. ↑ "USL First Division 2009 Full Schedule". Demosphere International. Retrieved 24 February 2014. 
12. ↑ Demosphere. "USL First Division – Top 10 Stats Leaders". uslsoccer.com. Retrieved February 20, 2014. 
13. ↑ Stinson, Dan (January 16, 2007). "Whitecaps launch talent search". The Vancouver Sun Newspaper. Retrieved March 11, 2014. 
14. ↑ Demosphere International (April 9, 2009). "USL-1 Season Preview – Part I". Retrieved March 3, 2014. 
15. ↑
16. ↑ "2009 Statistics". Retrieved 28 February 2014. 
17. ↑ "Full Schedule". Retrieved 28 February 2014.