Denis Bouanga and LAFC can’t keep pace in loss to Vancouver

Defender Ranko Veselinovic scored in the second minute, Ryan Gauld had a goal and two assists and the Vancouver Whitecaps never trailed in a 3-2 victory over LAFC on Saturday night at BMO Stadium.

Vancouver (6-5-7) beat the defending champions on the road for the first time in eight tries. The Whitecaps had lost three straight on the road coming into the match and were 0-8-7 in their last 15 away from home.

LAFC (9-4-5) had won back-to-back matches entering play after an 0-5-1 winless skid.

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Gauld had a hand in Veselinovic’s first goal this season and the third of his career. Gauld and Sergio Córdova set up Brian White’s seventh goal of the campaign to give the Whitecaps a 2-0 lead in the 23rd minute.

Denis Bouanga scored unassisted in the 45th minute to pull LAFC within a goal at halftime. Bouanga has 11 goals this season, second in the league to the 13 of Nashville SC’s Hany Mukhtar.

Gauld picked up a goal for the fourth straight match when he scored unassisted in the 63rd minute for a 3-1 lead. That came in handy when LAFC’s Carlos Vela took a pass from Mateusz Bogusz in the 68th minute and found the net for the sixth time this season. Gauld and Lucas Cavallini — last season — are the only Whitecaps to score in four straight games.

LAFC was coming off a first-minute goal by Bogusz in a 1-0 victory over the Seattle Sounders on Wednesday. It was the first time a club won a 1-0 match on a first-minute goal since Allan Cruz did it for FC Cincinnati in a win over CF Montreal in 2019.

Gauld’s scoring streak comes after a 13-match scoreless run.

Vancouver travels to play Sporting Kansas City on Saturday. LAFC hits the road to play FC Dallas on Saturday.