VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Saturday, May 3 2025) - Real Monarchs (2-1-3, 8th West) suffered its second straight shoot-out defeat of the 2025 MLS NextPro season, after drawing with Vancouver 1-1 in the 90 minutes following a 7-6 in a PK shootout loss to LAFC2 ten days ago.
The Monarchs are leaving Canada with a bitter taste in its mouth following a draw and penalty shootout loss. The squad deserved a victory against a Vancouver side that was clearly inferior to the boys in white as they dominated the majority of the meeting with a possession advantage of 59% to 41% and tallying 19 shots to Vancouvers’ six.
Real Monarchs were quite spirited upon the initial whistle, quickly taking authority by possessing the ball and moving it around the field. They created various opportunities on attack by taking advantage of the space that Vancouver was giving them. FW Omar Marquez was lively to start the encounter, making himself available to his teammates in the opposition’s final third.
Their motivated start paid dividends inside the first 10 minutes of the game. The Monarchs were working the ball around in Vancouver’s half when Marquez arrived on the other end of a low cross by DF Ruben Mesalles, finishing it first-time into the back of the net to give the away side an early 1-0 lead just six minutes in.
The evolution of the early minutes of the game were extremely favorable for Head Coach Mark Lowry’s side, continuing to hold onto possession of the ball despite having the lead and nearly adding to the scoresheet on multiple occasions. However, in what was a surprising turn of events, Vancouver found the one chance that they needed to get themselves level and back in the game. 21 minutes in, Mateo Clark fired a shot past GK Max Kerkvliet after a cross flew past the Monarchs defenders who were unable to keep out the danger, leveling the match 1-1.
Not only did the Vancouver goal get the home side back into the game but it also gave them confidence on the ball which allowed them to increase possession and stretch the field to create chances on the attack. Both sides were threatening on offense but ultimately went to the break level on terms.
The opening 20 minutes of the second half began similarly to the start of the game with the Monarchs containing possession of the ball and being decisive with their movements upfield. Unfortunately, they were ineffective with the multiple chances they generated.
Substitute Brayan Sandoval had a golden opportunity to get the Monarchs their second and game-winning goal only a few minutes before the end of the 90. He manufactured a brilliant solo run where he got past multiple Vancouver defenders but his shot struck the crossbar denying the Colombian forward.
The Monarchs put up a dominant performance on and off the ball throughout the match but were unable to find the second goal to take home the three points.As the match ended in a draw, the final result was decided in a penalty shootout to see who would take home the extra point. In the end, Vancouver snathced extra point as they declared victory, exploiting the misses by the Monarchs from the penalty spot by 3-1.
The team will look to recover in their next match in an away clash with Colorado Rapids 2 on Sunday, May 18 with kickoff slated for 2:30 PM MT.
VAN 1 : 1 SLC
GOAL-SCORING SUMMARY:
SLC: Omar Marquez (Ruben Mesalles) 6’: Touray received the ball in the final third, passed it towards the left side of the box to Ruben Mesalles who put in a low cross near the first post to Marquez who finished it one-time with his right foot.
VAN: Mateo Clark (Jackson Castro) 21’: Vancouver put in a dangerous cross that passed through the Monarchs defense and Clark arrived on the other end of it on the touchline in the left side of the box, took a touch closer to the net and fired past the Monarchs keeper.
SHOOTOUT SUMMARY:
SLC: #81 Griffin Dillon (save)
VAN: #54 Daniel Russo
SLC: #39 Aiden Hezarkhani
VAN: #44 Daniel Russo (save)
SLC: #32 Zack Farnsworth (miss)
VAN: #42 Nelson Pierre
SLC: #33 Tommy Silva (save)
VAN: #75 Rayan Elloumi
LINEUPS:
Real Monarchs (4-2-3-1): Max Kerkvliet; Bode Hidalgo (Gio Calderón 88’), Zack Farnsworth, Wes Charpie, Ruben Mesalles (Tommy Silva, 59’); Griffin Dillon ©, Liam O’Gara (Brayan Sandoval 69’), Owen Anderson, Aiden Hezarkhani, Omar Marquez; Ousman Touray (Maximus Jennings 88’)
Subs not used: Bennett Ewing, Izzy Amparo, Loic Adjalala, Prince Abban
Head Coach: Mark Lowry
VAN (4-2-2-2): Adrian Zendejas ©; Deylen Vellios, Dembo Saidykhan, Mark O’Neill, Daniel Russo; Jackson Castro, Yuma Tsuji (Luca Chen 90’+2); Antoine Coupland (Sahil Deo 64’), Mateo Clark (Rayan Elloumi 71’); Nelson Pierre, Johnny Selemani
Subs not used: Alexander Milosevic, Adrian Pelayo,
Head Coach: Ricardo Clark
Stats Summary: VAN / SLC
Possession: 41% / 59%
Shots: 6 / 19
Shots on Goal: 2 / 8
Corner Kicks: 2 / 7
Fouls: 5 / 20
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
VAN: Mateo Clark (Yellow Card, 28)
SLC: Liam O’Gara (Yellow Card, 66’)
SLC: Bode Hidalgo (Yellow Card, 69’)
SLC: Zack Farnsworth (Yellow Card, 90’+5)
