PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Jonathan Rodriguez and Felipe Mora scored first-half goals and the Portland Timbers extended their unbeaten streak to six games with a 2-0 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps in a Cascadia Cup rivalry match on Saturday night.
Rodriguez scored his eighth goal of the season in the 26th minute to put the Timbers in front.
Mora doubled the lead with a goal in the 43rd minute, his team-leading ninth goal of the year. Mora manoeuvred between a pair of defenders and blasted the ball past Whitecaps goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka.
The Timbers (7-7-6) are the only Major League Soccer team with three players with eight or more goals this season. Evander also has eight.
Evander had a dangerous free kick in stoppage time from just outside the top of the box but it sailed over the goal.
The Caps went down a man as Alessandro Schöpf was shown a second yellow card in the 52nd minute.
The Cascadia Cup is the annual three-way competition between the Timbers, Whitecaps and the Seattle Sounders, created by supporters of the three Pacific Northwest teams. The winner of the trophy is determined on points.
The Whitecaps kept fighting until the very end, but ultimately ended with their first defeat in four Cascadia matches this season.
It was Whitecaps' coach Vanni Sartini’s 100th MLS regular-season match with the team.
Vancouver (7-7-4) was missing two players because of the Copa America. Ali Ahmed is playing for Canada and Andres Cubas is with Paraguay.
Portland's Maxime Crépeau and Kamal Miller are also playing for Canada in the Copa America, while Miguel Araujo is on Peru's roster.
The Caps are back in action at BC Place next Saturday when they host St. Louis City SC.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Anne M. Peterson, The Associated Press
