Photo credit: USATSI

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

~ It seems San Jose likes their neighbors to the North, as they finally got their first road win this season and first against the Vancouver Whitecaps in their home all-time, 2-1.

The Quakes’ last win also came against a Canadian opponent, Toronto FC, making San Jose 2-0 this season against their Canadian foes.

Other similarities between the two games, were the score, the goal scorers and the timing. In both 2-1 matches, Quincy Amarikwa scored in the first half and Simon Dawkins doubled the score in the second half.

San Jose moved one point from a playoff spot as they extended their unbeaten streak to five games with their second win in a month.

Both sides hit the crossbar. In the 12th minute, the Quakes’ Fatai Alashe hit the crossbar.

While the keeper helped, San Jose got their first lead in Vancouver in over four years. Off a corner, Amarikwa headed the ball to goalkeeper David Ousted. With his hands on the ball, Ousted stumbled back into the net, but dropped the ball to make it 1-0 in the 14th minute.

In the 60th minute, Simon Dawkins made it 2-0 into a wide open net. Alberto Quintero got the assist.

The Whitecaps’ Blas Perez hit the crossbar in the 78th minute.

Bingham just missed his sixth shutout as Vancouver attacked relentlessly in stoppage time and broke through. Nicolas Mezquida’s shot was saved in the 93rd minute but not the 94th. Off a corner by Christian Bolanos, Kendall Watson headed the ball to the near corner where it bounced before Mezquida used a diving header to put the ball above Bingham. After that, Watson had a close header.

Game notes: have now held opponents to solo goals in their last eight games. In his 50th start with the team, Cordell Cato played 90 minutes for now the sixth consecutive match. First 2-0 win since April 13.