Defender Matias Laborda scored in the first half and then scored the winner in the penalty shootout. Vancouver Whitecaps Beat Los Angeles in the Western Conference semifinals on Saturday night in front of a club-record crowd of 53,957 at BC Place in Vancouver.
Second-place Whitecaps reached their first Western Conference final after the two clubs played out a 2-2 draw in regulation and 30 minutes of extra time.
Heung-Min Son, who scored twice in the second half to level LAFC, hit the post to open the penalty shootout while Sebastian Berhalter scored at Whitecaps' first try. LAFC's Denis Buanga and Vancouver's Jayden Nelson traded goals before Mark Delgado's shot went over the crossbar for LAFC. Ryan Gold scored to give the Whitecaps a 3–1 lead, but LAFC tied the game before Laborda scored.
Vancouver is reaching the conference finals for the first time since joining the league in 2011. They await the winner of Monday's match between No. 1-seeded expansion team San Diego and fourth-seeded Minnesota United.
Vancouver took a 1-0 lead in the 39th minute when goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka passed the ball three-quarters of the way to Emmanuel Sabbi, who scored his first postseason goal in his third appearance.
The Whitecaps took a two-goal lead at half-time after Laborda scored unassisted in first-half stoppage time. It was Laborda's first postseason goal in seven games over the last three seasons.
LAFC cut the lead to 2–1 early in the second half thanks to Son's unassisted goal in the 60th minute. It was Son's first postseason goal in his third game after scoring nine goals in 10 regular-season games.
Son scored the second goal with an unassisted free kick in the fifth minute of stoppage time to level the score.
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Takaoka made six saves for the Whitecaps. Over the past three seasons, he has allowed a total of 12 goals in nine postseason games.
Hugo Lloris stopped four shots for third seed LAFC in his seventh playoff start in the past two seasons.
The Whitecaps lost in their two previous semi-final appearances in 2015 and 2017.
