The San Jose Earthquakes Paul Marie boots a goal for the Quakes in the second half against the Vancouver Whitecaps at Earthquakes Stadium on Wed Oct 7, 2020 (AP News photo)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif- What a difference a week and a half makes. One minute you’re left rotting in the basement of the Western Conference, the next, you’re in a playoff spot.

The San Jose Earthquakes played one of its best matches from start to finish in a 3-0 shutout victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps on Wednesday evening at Earthquakes Stadium.

San Jose are on a season high three-game winning streak where they have jumped from dead last all the way up to 7th place in the Western Conference with 20 points. The top eight teams in the conference make the playoffs. A tough season for Vancouver continued with their fourth consecutive loss.

Quakes head coach Matias Almeyda only had to make one slight tinker to his starting lineup as Tommy Thompson started at left back in place for Marcos Lopez, who was out playing with the Peruvian national team.

Despite a scoreless 45 minutes, the first half featured plenty of scoring chances from both sides. Vancouver (5-11-0)’s Cristian Dájome sent a header over the cross bar in the eight minute and the Whitecaps leading scorer, Freddy Montero, sent in a shot that Quakes goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski saved to keep the Whitecaps off the board in the 20th minute.

“We really saw a competitive team. The restart of this season for each team was difficult. This season is unstable, just how we are living all around the world. It is difficult to train so little and play so often. Today, we had 20 players even. Many youngsters participated. I think standing up after the previous negative performances, there is conviction and special work that we’ve done. There is good communication and adequate interpretation. We were able to overcome that negative streak at the beginning of the season. However, we cannot deny that the season is difficult for everyone,” Almeyda said.

The only thing Vancouver dominated throughout the match was corner kicks. They had seven in the first half alone. Andy Rose’s header in the 26th minute, fought off by Marcinkowski, was the best chance the Whitecaps had to breaking the deadlock.

San Jose (5-6-5) midfielder Cristian Espinoza was involved in two of the Quakes best chances to get the Quakes on the board. He shot attempt in the sixth minute was stoned away by Whitecaps goalkeeper Evan Bush. Then in the 31st minute, Marcinkowski found Espinoza all alone on a long ball but Espinoza’s chip shot sailed over the net.

The Quakes kept its momentum rolling in the second half finally breaking through with the game’s opening goal in the 50th minute. Nick Lima found an open Espinoza inside the box. The 25 year old Argentinean performed a spin-o-rama around two Whitecaps defenders and fired a shot from 15 yards out past Bush to the far left corner of the net for his second goal of the season.

“The team was just trying to keep the momentum going,” said Marcinkowski when asked about his team’s three-game win streak. “Keep the quality we know we can play. I think we lost out identity a little bit ago. It’s nice to have it back. It’s nice to be playing good football.”

Frustrations seemed to get the better of Vancouver as in the 53rd minute, Rose received his second yellow card of the match, resulting in an automatic red card and ejection from the match.

With Vancouver down a man, San Jose took advantage of the situation in the 66th minute. Thompson found Carlos Fierro streaking down the left side of the pitch. Fierro centered the ball into the middle of the box where an open Andrés “Andy” Ríos one-timed the ball past Bush for his fourth goal of the season. Ríos has scored in back-to-back games for San Jose.

The Whitecaps began to lose their composure from there on out. Érik Godoy was issued a red card by referee Allen Chapman in the 75th minute for unsportsmanlike play against Jackson Yueill. They finished the match with only nine players on the pitch.

San Jose capped off its impressive night with its third goal with just under a minute left in the match. Thompson started a counter attack and found Paul Marie, who came in as a substitute in the 85th minute for Lima, and the 12th overall pick in the 2018 MLS draft lasered in a shot from 20 yards out beating Bush to the far left corner of the net for his first career MLS goal.

Marcinkowski finished the night with five saves for his first career shutout and third straight victory. Bush also finished with fives saved in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose had four corner kicks. Vancouver had seven,

The Earthquakes announced earlier in the afternoon that the club has signed midfielder Jackson Yueill to a new multi-year contract.

Quakes defenseman Florian Jungwirth will be out with a one-game suspension due to yellow card accumulation. He was issued a yellow card in the fourth minute of stoppage time in the first half.

San Jose won the possession battle by a 66%-34% margin.

The Earthquakes are one of five teams in MLS to win each of their last three matches.

The Quakes now hold a 4-0-0 record in their last four meetings with Whitecaps FC, scoring at least three goals in each of them.

San Jose set a club record with five Homegrown Players appearing in a match for the first time (Cowell, Fuentes, Lima, Marcinkowski, Thompson). The Quakes also had each of their last three first-round SuperDraft picks appear in the match (Beason, Haji, Marie).

Espinoza has now tallied a goal or assist in three consecutive matches, totaling one goal and three assists in that span. It also marked his second game-winning goal of the season and second of his MLS career.

Fierro was credited with an assist on Rios’ goal. It marked his second assist of the season and second of his MLS career.

Thompson was credited with an assist on both Rios’ and Marie’s goals. It marked his third and fourth assists of the season, and eighth and ninth of his MLS career. His four assists this season tie his single-season career high (2017).

Eighteen-year-old Homegrown Gilbert Fuentes made his first appearance of the season and third of his MLS career, entering as a substitute in the 85th minute.

Midfielder Siad Haji made his first appearance of the season, entering as a substitute in the 88th minute.

UP NEXT: San Joe begins a two-game roadtrip as it travels out to Portland to take on the Timbers on Sunday 10/11 at 7:00pm at Providence Park.