Ian Pilcher scored in the second half to help SDFC remain atop the Western Conference standings
San Diego FC (SDFC) played to a 1-1 draw against Vancouver Whitecaps FC at Snapdragon Stadium in the second of three consecutive MLS regular season home matches. SDFC came from behind to earn a point and remain atop the Western Conference standings, with defender Ian Pilcher providing the equalizer.
Vancouver took a 1-0 lead in the 40th minute when a Vancouver pass deflected off defender Manu Duah and into his own net following an initial save by goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega. The visitors took the 1-0 lead into halftime, but Pilcher leveled the match in the 79th minute with a left-footed strike from just inside the penalty area, leaving Vancouver goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka with no chance. Pilcher’s goal, along with a key late save by Sisniega, helped SDFC remain in first place with the draw against second-place Vancouver in the second meeting between the clubs.
SDFC continues its homestand on Friday, July 25 against Nashville SC, followed by its first-ever participation in Leagues Cup on Tuesday, July 29 against LIGA MX side Pachuca CF. Kickoff for the match against Nashville is set for 7:30 p.m. PT, with live coverage available on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, and English and Spanish radio broadcasts on San Diego Sports 760 AM and TUDN 1700 AM. Tickets for both matches are available at SanDiegoFC.com/Tickets.
Goal Scoring Plays:
VAN 0-1 – Manu Duah (Own Goal), 40th minute: Vancouver took a 1-0 lead when a ball bounced off SDFC defender Duah and into his own net. Vancouver’s Mathias Laborda tried to get a rebound to Brian White when the ball hit Duah after an Edier Ocampo shot was blocked by SDFC goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega.
SD 1-1 – Ian Pilcher (Luca Bombino) 79th Minute: Pilcher tied the match with a left-footed shot from just inside the box to beat Vancouver goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka. Bombino fed Pilcher with a quick touch before Pilcher charged on the ball for his left-footed volley.
Postgame Notes:
- With tonight’s 1-1 tie against Vancouver Whitecaps, SDFC earned its fourth tie in Club history and its fourth tie at home.
- SDFC is now 13-7-4 with 43 points through 24 games this season and currently sits in first place in the Western Conference standings.
- SDFC held 59% possession compared to Vancouver’s 41%.
- SDFC completed 565 passes to Vancouver’s 340.
- SDFC is now 12-5-3 against Western Conference rivals this season.
- SDFC is now 6-3-4 at home this season.
- SDFC is 3-6-2 when allowing a goal first.
- SDFC is 1-5-2 this season when trailing at halftime.
- SDFC is now second in MLS in scoring with 47 goals. Inter Miami CF leads with 49.
- Defender Ian Pilcher scored his first goal with SDFC on his sixth start for the club this season. It was also his first MLS goal.
- Defender Luca Bombino helped set up Pilcher’s goal with an assist, his fourth of the season.
- Defender Manu Duah made his second start for SDFC and fourth appearance, also his second MLS start and fourth appearance.
- Goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega made his third consecutive start for San Diego FC, marking his 54th MLS regular season appearance. He debuted for the club on July 12 in a 2-1 win at Chicago Fire and also started in the 1-0 loss to Toronto FC on July 16.
- SDFC was without eight players tonight: Willy Kumado, Anisse Saidi, Marcus Ingvartsen, Aníbal Godoy, Paddy McNair, Christopher McVey, Alejandro Alvarado Jr. (on MLS Season-Ending Injury List) and Andres Reyes (on MLS Season-Ending Injury List).
- Defender Christopher McVey missed his first match of the season due to injury, ending his streak of starting and playing every minute in San Diego FC’s first 23 MLS regular season games. He had logged 2,070 minutes — the only SDFC player to feature in every minute of the campaign until that point.
- SDFC’s starting defensive back line featured some of the club’s youngest players tonight: Oscar Verhoeven (19), Pilcher (22), Bombino (19) and Duah (20).
- Forward Emmanuel Boateng made his 220th MLS appearance tonight, coming off the bench in the 84th minute for Tomás Ángel.
Next Game
SDFC will next host Nashville SC on Friday, July 25 at Snapdragon Stadium. Kickoff for the match is set for 7:30 p.m. PT, with live coverage on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV, as well as English and Spanish radio broadcasts on San Diego Sports 760 AM and TUDN 1700 AM.
Match Information
2025 MLS Regular Season
San Diego FC (13-7-4, 43 pts) vs. Vancouver Whitecaps (12-5-6, 42 pts)
Saturday, July 19, 2025 – Snapdragon Stadium (San Diego, Calif.)
Scoring Summary:
VAN (0-1) – Manu Duah (Own Goal), 40’
SD (1-1) - Ian Pilcher (Luca Bombino) 79’
Misconduct Summary:
SD – Luca Bombino (caution, 11’)
VAN – Edier Ocampo (caution, 44’)
VAN – Mathias Laborda (caution, 51’)
VAN - Belal Halbouni (caution, 90+6)
Lineups:
SAN DIEGO FC: GK Pablo Sisniega; D Ian Pilcher, D Oscar Verhoeven, D Manu Duah, D Luca Bombino; M Onni Valakari, M Jeppe Tverskov -C-, M Luca De La Torre; F Tomás Ángel (Emmanuel Boateng, 84’), F Anders Dreyer, F Hirving “Chucky” Lozano,
Substitutes Not Used: GK CJ Dos Santos, GK Jacob Jackson, D Hamadi Diop, D Franco Negri, F Alex Mighten.
TOTAL SHOTS: 17; SHOTS ON GOAL: 6; FOULS: 2; OFFSIDES: 5; CORNER KICKS: 10; SAVES; 3
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS: GK Yohei Takaoka; D Mathias Laborda, D Ranko Veselinovic -C- (Belal Halbouni, 34’), D Bjorn Utvik, D Edier Ocampo (Tate Johnson, 46’), D Jayden Nelson, D Emmanuel Sabbi (Daniel Rios, 86’); M Sebastian Berhalter, M Andres Cubas, M Jeevan Badwal (Ralph Priso, 57’); F Brian White
Substitutes Not Used: M Jean-Claude Ngando, GK Adrian Zendejas, D Tristan Blackmon, F Nelson Pierre.
TOTAL SHOTS: 9; SHOTS ON GOAL: 3; FOULS: 20; OFFSIDES: 4; CORNER KICKS: 2; SAVES: 5
Referee: Alexis Da Silva
Assistant Referees: Kyle Atkins, Tyler Wyrostek
Fourth Official: Trevor Wiseman
VAR: Carol Ann Chenard
AVAR: Fabio Tovar
Weather: 67-degrees, Sunny
Attendance: 27,418
SDFC HEAD COACH MIKEY VARAS
On the team’s performance despite the short list of available players:
“I think the guys, we challenge the guys to show that we're a big squad, maybe not in numbers right now, availability wise, but in spirit and quality and squad got bigger tonight, because you got two guys, draft picks, starting at center back, one of them, Ian (Pilcher), who I think really, really grew up today because he had, he wasn't just next to a veteran guy who he could lean on. He was actually the guy who probably had the most experience, right? And then you got Manu, who showed that he's got high potential at the center back position. Oscar (Verhoeven) bouncing back off a tough performance last game, and for me, having probably his best performance of the year so far. And I think no excuse mentality from the group, which I absolutely love would go down a goal either, you know, the group could easily fall and say, Okay, we just everything is going against us, and we just kept pushing. And I know it's a one, one tie, but for me, it feels like a win, because I think it's a dominant performance, especially the second half on top of it.”
On his thoughts on VAR situations this season:
“I prefer not to comment on that, just because I think the referees are doing their best. And yeah, there's sometimes it feels like there's some inconsistencies and what happened earlier in the year than what's happening now. But I really do think that they're doing their best and the logic behind what they call and it is what it is.”
On Pablo Sisniega’s performance and if he’s the goalkeeper moving forward:
“No, I mean, first and foremost, we're a culture of competition, right? So we've always said one of our values is to embrace competition. The situation opened up for Pablo because CJ broke his nose and wasn't able to travel. And then now Pablo is on a nice little run of form, so it's about being a great teammate and embracing competition, and CJ understands these situations, and, you know, it keeps things competitive, but at the end of the day, it's about who's performing and training. Who's performing in the games. I know that CJ takes this as a competitor, meaning he's going to raise his level now, which is only good for the team, but he also takes it as a great teammate. You know, he's happy to see Pablo doing well, and that's kind of the culture that we have, and I think he exemplifies that really well.”
On what Manu Duah brings to the center back position:
“Manu has been a midfielder most of his life, but he's got a good frame, he's fast, and he's got a good technical ability. So, I think what he brings is he brings the ability to carry the ball, to make really brave line breaking passes, but then he has the physical attributes to help us defend the space in behind, in transition, you know, and he's still learning the principles a lot, but I think his potential as center back is really high.”
On the team scoring only one goal in the last two matches:
“Let's not take it for granted how hard it is to score goals in this sport. And so more than saying, like, what's not happening, I think it's about giving the guys a ton of credit of how many goals they've scored this season. You know, we've had very few low scoring games and but at the end of the day, the margins are razor thin, you know, and what I've always said is we have the attacking mentality. These guys come out to score goals, to attack the game, but sometimes the rhythm of the game doesn't allow you to create as big of chances as you want. But I have no doubt that at some point the flood gates will open up again and the goals will come in big in big quantities, again.”
On the maturity of his young players:
“It shows that we're a club that believes in young players. Believes in next player up mentality, no excuses. Believes in our environment of a growth mindset environment, a development environment. So, you know, these guys have been training. Manu (Duah) is a great example. He's been training and training and training and not playing, but he's had a growth mindset, and the coaches have done such a great job working with him, collectively, individually to get him ready. So, what I think it shows is that these guys are competitors, and they got quality, and that they, they took a huge step in their maturity and their games today.”
SDFC PLAYER GOALKEEPER PABLO SISNIEGA
On his development in a starting role:
"Yeah, obviously, I'm very happy to be getting my first minutes of the season. These last three games have been special for me. I've been working very hard for these last six months. So, to get a chance to show you guys the work that I've been putting in is obviously important for me. And the play style we have is very particular, so it's been a growing process for me. I've had to adapt, I've had to do things that at the beginning I was very uncomfortable with, but like Mikey (Varas) says, I mean, we, the team has a personality, and you have to fit into that personality if you want to play. So, I'm just trying to do my best to do what the team needs."
On playing in front of a young back line tonight:
"I was incredibly proud of the guys today. I mean, like you said, we had an extremely inexperienced and young back line, and I think that all of them, all four of them put an incredible performance. So, they did a really good job of keeping me from doing too much work, and I'm just really proud of the guys."
On his message to the defense at the end of the match:
“I just told them, I'm super proud of them. I, like all of us, knew that it was going to be an inexperienced back line, and it was against the second-best team in the West. I mean, they're a really good team Vancouver. So, it was going to be a big challenge for them. I think that all four of them really stepped up. They all took responsibility, so like I said, I just wanted to bring all of them in and recognize their effort and just congratulate them, because I was very proud of how they performed tonight."
SDFC DEFENDER IAN PILCHER
On being part of a young back line and his game-tying goal tonight:
“The back line was young this time, but we all had experience. And, you know, we're midway through the season, so I've been learning information from all the guys on the back line, you know, people like Chris (McVey) and Paddy (McNair) and even Franco (Negri) and the goalies behind me. So, I might have had more experience, but it's coming from guys throughout the whole culture. And then the goal was phenomenal. You know, we practiced a lot of set pieces, and I came out to (Luca) Bombino and trying to just be in a good position. And it fell to my feet, out of luck. And you know, after that, it was a bit of a blur, but super nice to do it with this club, and just so happy to be in the moment with everyone there.”
On how it’s like preparing for moments like tonight:
“It's just the mindset, right? You approach training 100-percent almost like it's a game. You know, we want to train at our very best. And you know, when you first come here, you want to soak up all that information and just learn and learn and then apply that to the game. And I think that just takes a mindset and mental focus to do that. And being having an open mindset with your teammates, right? You know, knowing that they might know more, and being willing to put my humility aside and say, Okay, I can learn from you.”
On how team was able to shorten learning curve against a good team:
“I spent a good amount of time with him in training, so we know each other's habits pretty well, but I think we're just two guys who play the game, and we relied on our instincts and the philosophy of the club, and that's what got us through the match, you know, just relying on the brilliant basics and doing those things well.”
On taking on this responsibility as a young player:
“It's just about stepping up in the moment. You know, no matter how young you are, you still want to rise to that occasion. And it's a great opportunity, and you take that in itself, but it's just about rising up, like to the level of that and having confidence in training and the guys around you, and just bringing that up to your level of confidence.”
