Noel Buck, Giacomo Vrioni and Esmir Bajraktarevic each scored first-half goals to lead the New England Revolution to their third straight victory, 3-2, over the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night in Foxborough, Mass.
It marked the first time this season that the Revolution (5-10-1, 16 points) scored more than two goals in a match. Aljaz Ivacic made six saves.
Ryan Gauld scored both goals for Vancouver (7-6-4, 25 points), which had a two-match win streak snapped. Yohei Takaoka finished with four saves.
Buck, moved into the starting lineup when Mark-Anthony Kaye was a late scratch with a knee issue, gave New England a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute with his first goal of the season. Vrioni’s shot at the top of the box was blocked and Buck then picked up the rebound and curled a left-footed shot from outside the box into the top left corner of the net.
Vancouver tied it 1-1 in the 13th minute when Gauld headed a Javain Brown cross from outside the right side of the box inside the near right post.
Vrioni then put the Revolution back in front in the 21st minute when he took a long through pass from midfielder Dylan Borrero and split the Whitecaps defense and booted a left-footed shot into the right corner of the net for his third goal.
New England, which entered the contest with a league-low 12 goals in 15 matches, made it 3-1 in the 39th minute when Bajraktarevic’s left-footed shot from the top right corner of the box deflected off Vancouver defender Sebastian Berhalter’s back into the top left corner of the net for his second goal.
Gauld finished the scoring just before the final whistle in the fourth minute of stoppage time with his team-leading ninth goal and sixth in five games, blasting a left-footed shot from about 15 yards above the penalty box into the left corner of the net.
–Field Level Media
