VANCOUVER, B.C. - The Vancouver Whitecaps ended their seven-game MLS winless streak on Saturday, as Canadian Russell Teibert scored his first two professional goals in a 3-1 win over the LA Galaxy at BC Place.
The win, Vancouver’s first in franchise history against the Galaxy, took a ding out of the defending MLS Cup champion’s dominance over the ‘Caps, in which they had won four of their previous five encounters, including a postseason matchup last year.
WATCH: Zardes scores first MLS goal
Vancouver (3-4-3) hadn’t won an MLS match since March 9 prior to the breakthrough on Saturday, while the Galaxy (4-3-2) dropped their second straight game.
Teibert opened the scoring on 63 minutes, hitting a left-footed strike from outside the area past a fully outstretched Carlo Cudicini into the bottom left corner. The strike, aided by Nigel Reo-Coker’s signature gut-busting run forward in the midfield, marked the Niagara Falls, Ontario, native’s first MLS goal.
The 20-year-old doubled Vancouver’s lead on 76 minutes, smashing home a ball teed up to him by Gershon Koffie in the box.
In the 86th minute, the Galaxy got a goal back through Gyasi Zardes, who headed home a Jose Villarreal cross for his first MLS goal, (WATCH at right) but it turned out to be nothing more than a consolation goal.
Darren Mattocks ended a miserable drought by scoring his second goal of the season in stoppage time to seal the win with the Galaxy piling on the pressure late after Zardes’ marker.
Teibert might not have been on the field at all had it not been for an early injury to Daigo Kobayashi, who left the match in the 14th minute due to a left ankle strain.
LA Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez almost scored an own goal in the 36th minute, directing a Reo-Coker cross toward his own goal, but Cudicini reacted well to parry away.
In the 61st minute Landon Donovan sent Hector Jimenez down the right, and the winger crossed into Gonzalez, who headed just wide to the right of target while unmarked in the area.
The Whitecaps are back in action on Wednesday, as they take on the Montreal Impact in the first leg of the Canadian Championship final at Stade Saputo. The Galaxy return to play Wednesday on the road at the Philadelphia Union.
