Galaxy Fall To Whitecaps 3-1
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- Russell Teibert scored his first two MLS goal to lead the Vancouver Whitecaps to a 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday night.
Teibert, a 20-year-old from Ontario is in his third season, but had not scored previously while playing sparingly most of the time. Darren Mattocks also scored for the Whitecaps (3-4-3), who ended a seven-game winless streak and beat the Galaxy for the first time.
Gyasi Zardes had the lone goal for Los Angeles (4-3-2), which was unbeaten in five previous regular-season meetings and also eliminated Vancouver in the opening round of the playoffs last year en route to a second consecutive MLS championship.
Teibert opened the scoring in the 63rd minute as he took a pass from Reo-Coker near the right corner of the Los Angeles box, cut back toward the middle and fired in a left-footed shot to put the Whitecaps up 1-0.
After netting his first MLS goal, Teibert pumped his fist in the air and ran to the Whitecaps bench and hugged teammates.
Teibert's second goal, in the 76th, proved be the winner as he sent a through ball to the corner of the Galaxy box where Gershon Koffie promptly passed it back to him for a left-footed strike. After the goal, teammate Jun Marques Davidson jokingly neatened Teibert's mohawk to make sure all hairs were pointing upward.
Zardes cut the Galaxy's deficit in half in the 86th as he headed in a cross from Villarreal.
However, Mattocks secured the win in stoppage time as second-half substitute Jordan Harvey chested the ball to him near the goal-line and he jammed it past Galaxy goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini.
Scoring chances were few and far between in the first half, but both clubs still had a couple of dangerous opportunities. In the 5th minute, Vancouver goalkeeper Joe Cannon dove to stop a header by Jose Villarreal.
Eight minutes later, Cudicini caught a shot by Mattocks shot from about 25 yards out.
Teibert entered the game after Vancouver midfielder Daigo Kobayashi left in the 14th minute with an injury. Kobayashi was unable to continue due to a knock suffered about three minutes earlier.
Teibert quickly made an impact as he provided a nice cross from the right flank for Mattocks, who sent a header to the far post -- only to watch Cudicini corral the ball.
In the 23rd minute, Los Angeles' Omar Gonzalez shot wide on a rush through the middle as the ball went off a Vancouver defender. Five minutes later, the Galaxy's Sean Franklin fired a shot way over the net.
Cudicini came up big again on 37 minutes as he stopped an inadvertent volley by teammate Gonzalez off Vancouver midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker's blocked shot.
Honduran international defender Johnny Leveron started his first home game for the Whitecaps. He received a yellow card for a tackle on which he twisted Villarreal's legs in the 3rd minute.
