MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact defeated the Vancouver Whitecaps for the first time in their MLS history on Wednesday night, winning 2-1 at Stade Saputo. Jack McInerney and Ignacio Piatti scored for Montreal, while Pedro Morales replied on a penalty kick.
With the win, Montreal (3-4-2, 11 pts) stay ninth in the Eastern Conference, but they cut back their deficit on seventh-placed Chicago and eighth-placed Orlando to three points. Vancouver (7-6-3, 23 pts) also stay put, just behind Western Conference leaders Seattle Sounders.
McInerney opened the scoring in the 14th minute. Whitecaps defender Diego Rodriguez cleared a Calum Mallace cross, but the ball fell for Impact defender Laurent Ciman, whose thunderous volley crashed onto the crossbar and bounced back into play. McInerney, kept onside by Tim Parker, pounced on the rebound.
The Impact, who’d made four chances from their previous lineup to Vancouver’s six, kept on dictating the tempo after their goal. But Vancouver, as is their habit, upped the ante late on in the half – they’d scored 10 of their 16 goals in the last quarter-hour of halves.
The ‘Caps came close twice in the last two minutes of the first 45. Rodriguez headed a Mauro Rosales free kick down for Nicolas Mezquida. His shot, bound for goal, was just deflected behind for a corner kick. Second later, a Darren Mattocks volley from outside the box bounced off the far post after Kendall Waston and Ciman collided in the box.
Vancouver had otherwise conceded the better opportunities to Montreal, and the same pattern was repeated in the second half. The Impact created three fine chances on the counter in the first 25 minutes, forcing David Ousted into the best save of the night when he stopped a ferocious Maxim Tissot shot.
Right on cue, in the 79th minute, Vancouver equalized. Andres Romero tripped Jordan Harvey to Evan Bush’s right, and referee Armando Villarreal pointed to the spot. Bush dived to the right, while Morales shot the other way.
Only four minutes later, Piatti scored the winner. Substitute Anthony Jackson-Hamel did well down the right to feed Romero, who cut in for the right. Looking for redemption, Romero found Piatti, whose shot from close range evaded slides from Harvey and Parker and found the back of the net.
Both teams will be on the road this Saturday. Montreal face the Columbus Crew SC (7:30 pm ET, MLS LIVE), while the Whitecaps take on the Galaxy in Los Angeles (10:30 pm ET, TSN2 in Canada, MLS LIVE in US).
