VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Cristian Espinoza scored late in the first half and Daniel de Sousa Britto made it stand up as the San Jose Earthquakes edged the Vancouver Whitecaps 1-0 on Sunday night as the league returned to action after a five-week hiatus for Leagues Cup play.
Neither team scored until Espinoza found the net in the 43rd minute, using an assist from Jeremy Ebobisse to score his 12th goal of the season. Espinoza is in a four-way tie for second place in the race for the Golden Boot, one behind the 13 goals of reigning MVP Hany Mukhtar of Nashville SC.
San Jose (9-7-8) also beat Vancouver (8-8-7) 2-1 in March and has won three straight in the series. The Earthquakes are 7-2-3 in their last 12 matches with the Whitecaps with both losses on the road. San Jose is 2-0-2 in its last four on the road after going 0-11-4 in its previous 15.
Daniel totaled seven saves to earn the clean sheet for the Earthquakes. Yohei Takaoka did not have a save for the Whitecaps.
The Whitecaps saw a four-match win streak at home end. Vancouver is 7-2-4 in its last 13 home matches and 24-8-8 since returning to play at BC Place. The 80 points at home is second only to the 83 of the Philadelphia Union over that span.
Brian White had a hand in a goal in four straight matches for Vancouver but fell one short of tying the club record held by three players.
Vancouver travels to play the Portland Timbers on Saturday. San Jose travels to play Sporting Kansas City on Saturday.
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