Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By Marko Ukalovic and Alexandra Evans

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Earthquakes (3-14-8) might want to want to hire a voodoo doctor with their way their luck has been this season at home. Down 2-0 entering the second half, the Vancouver Whitecaps (10-9-7) rattled off three unanswered goals to edge the Quakes 3-2 on Saturday evening at Avaya Stadium.

It was a very important win for Vancouver. With 37 points on the season, they currently are tied with the Portland Timbers in sixth place and jumped over the Seattle Sounders in the MLS standings. All three teams are vying for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

For the Quakes, they still haven’t won at home since their season opening match against Minnesota FC back on March 3rd.

It looked like the Quakes would snap their 11-game winless streak at Avaya when they drew first blood early in the first half when Jahmir Hyka intercepted a clearing attempt by Vancouver’s Aaron Maund off of a centering pass by Nick Lima in the seventh minute. Hyka collected the ball and fired off a shot into the lower left corner of the goal past Whitecaps goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic for his third goal on the season.

San Jose would double their lead when Marcel de Jong tripped Danny Hoesen just inside the box at the 15th minute. The foul was initially ruled outside the box, but after the video review, the Quakes were awarded the penalty shot.

Magnus Eriksson converted the penalty for a 2-0 lead with a low line drive to the left corner of the goal beating a diving Marinovic for his fifth goal of the season at the 18th minute.

Quakes goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell made a nice diving save off of a Kei Kamara, the Whitecaps’ leading goal scorer, header to open up the first minute of the second half. Tarbell was able to tip the ball away from the goal. It was a foreshadow of things to come in the second half.

“We played well the first 30 minutes,” said Quakes head coach Mikael Stahre. “After we conceded the first goal, we lost everything. The power, the willingness to play the game.”

Yordy Reyna would cut the lead in half in the 59th minute on a free kick from 25 yards out for his fourth goal of the season. The free kick was set up, thanks to a foul committed by Luis Felipe. Reyna’s shot deflected off Tarbell’s hand into the right corner of the net.

Three minutes later, Vancouver would tie the game when Kamara created a counter attack. He passed the ball over to the left side for a streaking Cristian Techera, who deked out Florian Jungwirth and fired the ball past Tarbell into the net for his eighth goal of the season at the 62nd minute.

“They gotta believe they are good players,” said Whitecaps head coach Carl Robinson. “When they produce performances like that, especially in the second half, we’re just not that nice to play against–which is a good trait to have.

Kamara would give the Whitecaps the lead in the 68th minute when Reyna received a long ball from midfield on the left side and centered the ball over to a wide-open Kamara, who tapped the ball into an empty net for his team-leading 11th goal of the season.

“It was a gut punch,” said Quakes captain Chris Wondolowski. “(We) played so well for so long and then (you) have 15 minutes of complete letdowns.”

An apparent hand ball inside the Vancouver box on Maund wasn’t called in the 83rd minute when a centering feed fell beside Maund and appeared to touch his arm. Maund was then taken out by friendly fire four minutes later when his teammate Kendall Watson’s forearm smacked him upside his head when both players were attempting to clear out a centering pass.

Even with six minutes of stoppage time at the end of the game, San Jose would fail to get the equalizing goal and drop another heartbreaker at home.

GAME NOTES: Anibal Godoy received a yellow card in the 30th minute after a sliding tackle on Reyna. Reyna received a yellow card in the 51st minute for unsportsmanlike conduct when he spiked the ball protesting a foul. A minute later, Vancouver’s Felipe was also issued a yellow card as well as De Jong was tagged with a yellow card on a vicious tackle on Lima at the 52nd minute.

Play was stopped a minute into stoppage time in the first half when Jakob Nerwinski collided with Joel Quiberg as both players were playing a loose ball in the air. Both players did not suffer an injury on the play.

This past Wednesday, Quakes defenseman Guram Kashia was named the recipient of the inaugural #EqualGame award from UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, for his stand in the wake of intense criticism after wearing a rainbow-colored armband in October.

UP NEXT: The Quakes return back to action on Wednesday, August 29 as they host FC Dallas at Avaya Stadium 7:30 pm PDT.