Defender Mathías Laborda scored a first-half goal before delivering the winner in a penalty-kick shootout and the Vancouver Whitecaps beat LAFC 6-5 in a Western Conference semifinal on Saturday night before a club-record crowd of 53,957 at BC Place.
The second-seeded Whitecaps advance to their first Western Conference final after the two clubs played to a 2-2 draw through regulation and 30 minutes of extra time.
Son Heung-Min, who scored twice in the second half to pull LAFC even, banged his shot off the post to open the penalty shootout while Sebastian Berhalter scored on the Whitecaps’ first attempt. LAFC’s Denis Bouanga and Vancouver’s Jayden Nelson traded goals before Mark Delgado sent his shot over the goal for LAFC. Ryan Gauld scored to give the Whitecaps a 3-1 lead but LAFC evened the score before Laborda found the net.
Vancouver advances to the conference final for the first time since joining the league in 2011. They await the winner of Monday’s match between expansion side San Diego FC, the No. 1 seed, and fourth-seeded Minnesota United.
Vancouver took a 1-0 lead in the 39th minute when goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka‘s long kick found a streaking Emmanuel Sabbi, who finished for his first postseason goal in his third appearance.
The Whitecaps took a two-goal lead into halftime after Laborda scored unassisted in the first minute of stoppage time. It was Laborda’s first postseason goal in seven appearances over the past three seasons.
LAFC cut it to 2-1 early in the second half on an unassisted goal by Son in the 60th minute. It was Son’s first postseason goal in his third appearance after scoring nine goals in 10 appearances during the regular season.
Tristan Blackmon was shown a red card to reduce to Vancouver to 10 men in the second minute of second-half stoppage time and three minutes later Son delivered a second goal, scoring off a stunning free kick to tie it.
But despite numerous chances in extra time, LAFC couldn’t make the most of their numerical advantage to leave the semifinal to go to penalties.
The Whitecaps lost in their two previous trips to the semifinals in 2015 and 2017.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
