VANCOUVER - Pedro Morales and Octavio Rivero scored in the first half Saturday as the Vancouver Whitecaps defeated the Philadelphia Union 3-0.
Second half-substitute Darren Mattocks added the other goal for the Whitecaps (6-3-2), who won at home for the first time since early April.
After a tentative opening for both teams, Vancouver grabbed the lead in the 32nd minute when Cristian Techera sent a ball over the top to Morales, who moved in alone on Brian Sylvestre and calmly chipped home his second goal of the season.
Playing his first game in Major League Soccer after arriving on loan to Vancouver last month, the pint-sized Techera was only on the pitch because fellow midfielder Mauro Rosales limped off with an injury in the 12th minute.
The Whitecaps, who had scored just twice in their four previous outings, doubled the lead in the 44th when Rivero muscled Philadelphia defender Ethan White off a sloppy back pass before beating a helpless Sylvestre with a low shot for his sixth of the season and first in four games.
Sylvestre got the start for Philadelphia (1-7-3), which has now lost four in a row, after fellow goalkeepers John McCarthy and Andre Blake both went down with injuries in practice this week. A former member of the Whitecaps' youth system, Sylvestre was signed on a short-term loan from the second-tier Carolina RailHawks on Friday.
Prior to Vancouver's outburst, David Ousted made a great point-blank save on the Union's Andrew Wenger in the 26th minute that woke the crowd at B.C. Place Stadium out of its slumber before Rivero tested Sylvestre at the other end seconds later.
The Union entered Saturday last in MLS with 18 goals conceded, including 12 on the road, and the Whitecaps came close to adding to their advantage early in the second half, but the under-fire Sylvestre made good stops on Kekuta Manneh, Techera and Morales.
Techera was in the middle of the action again in the 78th minute when he was on the receiving end of a challenge that resulted in Philadelphia's Richie Marquez being shown a straight red card.
Mattocks, who subbed on for Rivero midway through the half, then iced things with a superb individual effort for his third of the year three minutes later.
Vancouver, which had midfielder Matias Laba back after serving a one-game suspension, cruised from there to improve to 3-2-1 at home and beat an Eastern Conference opponent at B.C. Place for the first time in four tries this season.
Notes: Rosales left with a tight right quad. ... The Whitecaps will host the first leg of their Amway Canadian Championship semifinal against FC Edmonton on Wednesday. The match was supposed to go this past week in the Alberta capital, but was postponed due to snow. ... Whitecaps defender Tim Parker, the club's 2015 first-round pick, made his first start for Vancouver.
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