Sunday evening will be a milestone for the Vancouver Whitecaps Residency program.
The young Caps are on the brink of delivering their first North American Championship when they take on their FC Dallas counterparts in Houston, and win or lose, the guys have done themselves and the Whitecaps proud, firmly putting the Caps Residency program on the footballing map.
It's been a long season, which started back in September. Now, 34 games, 24 wins and 106 goals later, they are one game away from bringing back the Cup in their first season in the United States Soccer Development Academy.
<i>"It would be a fairytale end"</i> is how head coach Craig Dalrymple views what may happen in Sunday's Championship game.
It was a sentiment echoed by this week's stand out player Ben Fisk when we spoke to him today:
<i>"We are very proud to have made it to the Championship game. For many of us it will be our last time playing together, so to win it would be the perfect ending."</i>
Indeed it would be.
It would also be a great reward for all the hard work and effort put in during these last ten months, as goalkeeper Callum Irivng told us:
<i>"The season has been extremely long, but when you make it to the final, which has been the goal all year, it makes all the hard work worthwhile."</i>
With two wins and a draw under their belts already this week, how has Callum enjoyed his first USSDA Finals Week?
<i>"The week has been fantastic, with the team getting some great results, and the facilities being top class.
The boys have really come together and it's been extremely rewarding."</i>
That togetherness is definitely a theme of the Caps camp.
Many of these players have played together for a number of years now and in many ways it is an end of an era.
This familiarity has certainly led to some great friendships and team harmony, and the results are now fully coming through on the pitch, as Craig Dalrymple explained:
<i>"The team has really come together as a unit, which has been a climax of the season so far. Now they just need to rest and regenerate then I fully expect them to put in another good performance on Sunday."</i>
The squad has had a restful day, playing pool and table tennis as they try and take their minds off tomorrow's big game as much as they can.
With so much on the line, nerves are bound to be a factor for both sides. Having to fight back to draw against Colorado on Friday was probably the best thing that could have happened to the Whitecaps and kept their expectations in check a lot more than three group wins would have done.
We asked Callum how he thinks nerves will affect the team in the final:
<i>"I think the guys have been working for this all year, and there obviously will be some nerves. However, when you've prepared as well as we have all year, there's not much to worry about. We're just going to go out there and play."</i>
That's certainly something they've done all this week in Houston, scoring nine goals and recording two wins and a draw in the process.
Six of those goals have come from Ben Fisk, who scored consecutive hat-tricks against North Carolina Fusion and De Anza Force, and it's a mark of the player that he has his mind firmly focussed on the team prize and not personal accomplishments:
<i>"I don't have much to say about the hat-tricks. Of course its nice to score 3 goals in a match but they won't mean much to me if we don't win."</i>
Is back to back trebles something he's done before in his career?
<i>"I've scored consecutive hat-tricks before, but these two would definitely be my favourite."</i>
Standing in the way of Whitecaps glory is a talented FC Dallas side who narrowly lost last year's final and are out for revenge.
Dallas won the Texas division of the Central Conference by a cantor and have the best points per games played ratio of any USSDA team with 2.46.
Like the Caps, they are a team that can seemingly score at will, and both sides are very equally matched in most aspects.
This was demonstrated when the teams met in the Florida showcase in December and played out a 2-2 draw, with Bryce Alderson and Caleb Clarke getting on the scoresheet for Vancouver.
It's going to be a great final and a tough one for either side to win.
The Championship game will be streamed on the <a href="http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Development-Academy/2012/07/Development-Academy-Finals-Week-Championship-Matches-to-be-Streamed-Live.aspx" target="_blank">USSoccer.com</a> website and kicks off at 6PM PT.
As we've said, whatever the outcome, the guys have done us proud.
All that's left now, is to hope for that perfect ending.
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