THOUSAND OAKS, CALIF. – Tacoma Defiance defeated Ventura County FC 2-1 on Friday night at William Rolland Stadium. Yu Tsukanome scored a brace for Defiance, his sixth and seventh goals of the season, good for second in MLS NEXT Pro, with Sounders FC Academy product Edson Carli assisting both strikes. With the result, Tacoma moves into first place in the Pacific Division with 15 points (5-2-0), tied with Ventura County on points but leading the goal differential tiebreaker.
Hervé Diese’s side next returns home to take on the Portland Timbers in the 2025 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Round of 32 on Tuesday, May 6 at Starfire Stadium (7:00 p.m. PT / Paramount+, CBS Sports Network).
MATCH SUMMARY
Tacoma Defiance 2 – Ventura County FC 1
Friday, May 2, 2025
Venue: William Rolland Stadium
Referee: Jay Schlesinger
Assistants: Ryan Jung, Conrado Garcia
Fourth Official: Gabriele Ciampi
Weather: 75 degrees and sunny
SCORING SUMMARY
VCFC – Harbor Miller (Nicklaus Sullivan) 27’
TAC – Yu Tsukanome (Edson Carli) 46’
TAC – Yu Tsukanome (Edson Carli) 58’
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
VCFC – Harbor Miller (caution) 12’
LINEUPS & STATS
Tacoma Defiance – Lars Helleren; Cody Baker, Stuart Hawkins, Kaito Yamada, Elias Katsaros (Antino Lopez 46’); Peter Kingston, Snyder Brunell – captain; Sebastian Gomez (Danny Robles 86’), Rafferty Pedder (Edson Carli 46’), Travian Sousa; Yu Tsukanome (Jackson Khoury 65’)
Substitutes not used: Mo Shour, Charles Dodzi, Joonmo Kang
Total shots: 21
Shots on goal: 7
Fouls: 6
Offside: 5
Corner-kicks: 6
Saves: 2
Ventura County FC – Brady Scott; Harbor Miller, Jose Luis Magana, Jr., Christopher Rindov, Riley Dalgado (Max Middleby 63’); Thomas Musto, Jeorgio Kocevski (Garcia Vicente 88’), Dylan Vanney (Sean Karani 75’); Nicklaus Sullivan, Rubén Ramos, Jr., Luis Müller (Nader Jindaoui 75’)
Substitutes not used: Levon Saribekyan, Enrique Martinez, Ethan Loomis, Gabriel Arnold, Owen Pratt
Total shots: 12
Shots on goal: 4
Fouls: 9
Offside: 4
Corner-kicks: 11
Saves: 4