Crepeau backstops Whitecaps to win over Timbers

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."