Whitecaps score early, often in rout of Dynamo

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Pedro Vite scored in the first minute, Julian Gressel added two goals and the Vancouver Whitecaps roughed up the Houston Dynamo 6-2 on Wednesday night.

Vite scored his third goal of the season, using an assist from Brian White to give Vancouver (5-5-5) a very early lead.

Corey Baird scored the equalizer for Houston (5-6-3) seven minutes later. Adalberto Carrasquilla and Amine Bassi had assists on Baird's first goal this season. Bassi used an assist from Daniel Steres to score his sixth goal, giving the Dynamo a 2-1 lead in the 16th minute.

The lead lasted until Gressel took a pass from Ryan Gauld and scored two minutes later and it remained tied at 2 at halftime.

The Whitecaps grabbed the lead in the first minute of the second half on White's sixth goal of the season, unassisted.

Gressel added his second score of the night and third of the season, unassisted in the 59th minute. Sebastian Berhalter scored unassisted in the 88th minute for his first goal this season to make it 5-2. Gauld completed the scoring in the fifth minute of stoppage time, using assists from Berhalter and Déiber Caicedo to score his first goal of the year.

Yohei Takaoka finished with three saves for the Whitecaps. Steve Clark saved one shot for the Dynamo, who had not allowed multiple goals in any of their last eight matches. One more would have tied the club record set in 2016.

The Whitecaps improve to 9-0-3 all-time at home against Houston. Vancouver has the only road win in 22 meetings, a 2-1 victory in 2018. The Whitecaps are 22-6-6 at home since returning to BC Place in August of 2021. That ties Los Angeles FC for the most home wins over that span.

Houston travels to play St. Louis City on Saturday. Vancouver remains home to host Sporting Kansas City on Saturday.

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