WHITECAPS LICK MINNESOTA

Another outstanding match for Reyna

Yordy Reyna and Brek Shea each scored once and helped set up another as the Vancouver Whitecaps defeated Minnesota United 3-0 on Wednesday night for their third straight win.

Erik Hurtado had the other goal for Vancouver (13-9-5), which moved into first place in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference with 44 points. The Portland Timbers also sit on 44 points, but the Whitecaps own the tiebreaker with one more win, and have played two fewer games.

Whitecaps goalkeeper David Ousted was forced to make just one stop at B.C. Place Stadium for his sixth shutout of the season.

Minnesota (7-15-5), meanwhile, remains second-last in the West in what has been a difficult season for the expansion club.

Playing their second of three matches in eight days, the Whitecaps — who made five changes to the team that beat Real Salt Lake 3-2 in Vancouver last Saturday — grabbed the lead five minutes in.

Canadian international Marcel de Jong floated a ball from near half that dropped between two Minnesota defenders and right onto the boot of a hard-charging Reyna, who tapped in his fourth goal of the season, and second in as many games, beyond United goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth.

The Whitecaps, who host the Columbus Crew on Saturday afternoon and are now 7-2-2 over their last 11, then doubled the advantage in the 31st minute on one of the classic counterattack goals they have become known for under head coach Carl Robinson.

After the visitors failed to connect on three straight corners, Ousted heaved the ball out to a breaking Reyna. As Minnesota tried to scramble back, the Peruvian fed a pass to Shea down the left, and he in turn fired a cross to the top of the six-yard box that Hurtado chested past Shuttleworth for the striker’s second.

Supporters behind the Minnesota net greeted Hurtado’s first goal at home in more than a year with chants of “Rufio! Rufio!” — a reference to his hairstyle that resembles that of a character from the 1991 movie Hook.

United, which travels to Montreal to take on the Impact Saturday, came back from a 2-0 deficit to tie Vancouver in June in the inaugural meeting between the clubs.