Pedro Vite scored in the 90th minute and the visiting Vancouver Whitecaps rallied from an early two-goal deficit to earn a 3-2 victory over Real Salt Lake on Saturday night.
Vite’s fourth goal of the season came on a perfectly struck left-footed strike from the far right corner of the penalty area, which beat diving goalkeeper Rafael Cabral to the far post.
Brian White added a first-half brace to reach 10 goals for a third consecutive season, including the first goal of his MLS career from the penalty spot.
Vancouver (9-1-4, 31 points) extended its unbeaten run to 14 matches in all competitions eight days before they head to Mexico City for the Concacaf Champions Cup final against Cruz Azul.
Diego Luna scored his eighth goal and added an assist as RSL required only four minutes to storm to a two-goal lead.
The 18-year-old Zavier Gozo added his first senior professional goal in the opening seconds for Salt Lake (4-9-2, 14 points), which is still waiting on a second player to join Luna as a multiple-goal scorer.
But it took only 21 minutes for Vancouver to even the match on the 70th and 71st goals of White’s MLS career.
The former came from an outswinging corner kick served up by Sebastian Berhalter’s right foot, which White headed past Cabral from close range.
The latter came after referee Filip Dujic was summoned to the video monitor and ultimately ruled William Agada had a hand ball inside his own penalty area.
With regular penalty-kick taker Ryan Gauld sidelined with a knee injury, White stepped up and coolly converted.
Cabral made two close-range stops after halftime to prevent White from recording his second hat trick of the season.
But Vite provided the special moment needed to decide the outcome just before added time began.
After playing a pass right to Emmanuel Sabbi on the flank, Sabbi returned the ball to Vite then made a diagonal run into the penalty area.
Using the space Sabbi’s run created, Vite set his feet and curled a 20-yard strike that appeared to bend around Cabral’s dive before nestling inside the far left post.
–Field Level Media
