Maxime Crepeau had plenty of action Friday night – and
he did not disappoint.
Crepeau made five saves as the Vancouver Whitecaps blanked
the Portland Timbers 1-0 at B.C. Place Stadium. The saves total was a bit misleading,
although Crepeau, a 24-year-old Greenfield Park, Que., native, stopped mostly
difficult shots. He was under siege for much of the night as the Whitecaps (3-5-3)
scored early and hung on for their second straight win, moving into playoff contention in the process.
Fredy Montero scored the game’s only goal in the ninth minutes as he
took a pass from Russell Teibert in the Timbers box and roofed a shot inside
the near post.
Portland (3-6-1) was credited with 27 shots in all – with
five on target, 15 off target and another seven blocked by Vancouver defenders.
By comparison, the Caps only
recorded 12 shots altogether.
But Crepeau
was not complaining about Portland’s barrage.
"Tonight, the heat lamp was a
little bit more on our side. It was back and forth.
"It's easier for me to be
focused when we have action. If you are having one action every 35 minutes, you
really need to keep up mentally for that ball. If the ball is coming in waves
and waves, you are right in there."
Crepeau
earned his third shutout of the season while logging his 10th start. Not bad
considering that he played in lower tiers before earning his first permanent Major
League
Soccer spot this season.
Vancouver’s starting goalkeeper job was up for grabs as the start of the campaign
after the Whitecaps jettisoned both of their stoppers after missing the playoffs
in 2018. But Crepeau, who was acquired in a trade in December from the Montreal
Impact for $50,000 in targeted allocation money and a third-round 2020 SuperDraft
pick, has relegated American veteran Zac MacMath to a backup role.
The Caps paid
a much higher price for MacMath, sending pesky midfielder Nicolas Mezquida and
$100,000 in TAM to the Colorado Rapids.
Despite being part of Canada’s men’s national program,
Crepeau was a relative
unknown. But he has a strong pedigree. In 2018, he recorded
a USL single-season record with 15 clean sheets while on loan to Ottawa
Fury FC. He won the circuit’s goalkeeper of the year award, posting 82 saves with
a 72.6 save percentage with a 1.00 goals-against average.
Now, Crepeau has the Whitecaps dreaming of more
success.
"We are happy,” he said. “It was an important
win. We want to keep going with three wins in a row (after the next meeting)
against Atlanta (on Wednesday).”
Meanwhile, the Timbers headed home unhappy, largely because of Crepeau.
“(Give) credit to their goalkeeper (and) to their team”
said Timbers coach Giovanni Savarese. “They defended well. They sacrificed. But
I thought also, we were really unlucky today. We did a lot of good things. We
created a lot of chances. We moved the ball well. We dominated -- especially in
the second half. Yes, they did have counters. But we dealt very well with the
counters."
The Timbers earned 12 corner-kicks as a result of
their steady pressure – but could not capitalize.
"We had many corners, many shots, a lot of
possessions," said Savarese. "But, unfortunately, that doesn't win
you games. Unfortunately, what we missed today was the goals."
