Brian White scored in the second half, and the Vancouver Whitecaps recorded their second straight shutout victory by dispatching the Portland Timbers 1-0 on Saturday night.

Julian Gressel assisted on White’s goal in the 74th minute on a night in which the Whitecaps (2-2-3, nine points) had a 13-2 edge in shots. Vancouver put nine on target, while Portland didn’t place a single shot on goal.

Yohei Takaoka wasn’t called on to make any saves while recording his second shutout of the season for the Whitecaps.

Aljaz Ivacic made eight saves For the Timbers (1-4-2, five points), who are winless over their past six matches.

Among the pivotal players to sit out for injury riddled Portland were midfielders Sebastian Blanco (knee) and Eryk Williamson (knee) and forwards Felipe Mora (knee) and Yimmi Chara (hamstring).

The sequence of Vancouver’s goal began with Ryan Gauld sending a left-footed shot on net that Ivacic got his hands on. The rebound went to Gressel, whose shot hit the back of Portland’s Justin Rasmussen and bounced back to him. He then sent a cross to White, who was right in front of the net and used his leg to knock it past Ivacic.

Six minutes later, the Timbers had their best opportunity as Franck Boli found an open Rasmussen to the left of the net. Rasmussen shot the ball, but it went in front of the net like a cross instead of toward it, and teammate Juan Mosquera’s right-footed attempt to even the score was unsuccessful.

Vancouver’s Ranko Veselinovic twice pushed the ball past Ivacic but both goals were nullified.

The first came in the 30th minute when Gressel’s shot was blocked by Ivacic. Veselinovic pounced on the rebound to score but the nearby official immediately called offside to negate the goal.

In the 51st minute, Gauld sent a corner kick into the box and Veselinovic nudged Portland’s Dario Zuparic and sent him to the ground. Veselinovic easily headed the ball into the net, but the goal was overturned by video review.

Vancouver had a 7-0 edge in first-half shots, but Ivacic came up big with four saves.

Ivacic was under assault in the opening minutes but made stellar saves on Pedro Vite’s left-footer from outside the box in the fourth minute and on Mathias Laborda’s header in the seventh.

The Whitecaps had another solid chance in the 23rd minute but Laborda sent his header over the top of the net.

–Field Level Media