Vancouver Whitecaps keep playoff drive alive with 3-0 win over LAFC

The sting of defeat has lingered for Yohei Takaoka. 

It's been a year since the Japanese goalkeeper and his Vancouver Whitecaps were bounced from the Major League Soccer playoffs by Los Angeles FC. The memory was still fresh as the club prepared to host their rivals in a do-or-die post-season bout again on Sunday. 

"We never forgot last year. We lost against them here. We never forget. I never forget," Takaoka said. "So that's why I want to show our performance as a team, as a player."

The Whitecaps exacted some revenge Sunday, beating LAFC 3-0 to level this year's best-of-three first-round matchup at a game apiece. 

Ryan Gauld opened the scoring in the 10th minute, then provided a cross that led to an own goal from LAFC's Ryan Hollingshead four minutes later. Another own goal, from Eddie Segura, sealed the score at 3-0 in the 68th minute. 

"It's the kind of performance and result we all felt we were capable of. So to go out and do it on the pitch was really good," Gauld said.

LAFC won the first game 2-1 last Sunday. The decisive third bout is set for Friday in Los Angeles.

The 'Caps finished the regular season eighth in the West and trounced the Portland Timbers 5-0 in a wild-card match to earn their spot in the first round against No. 1 seed LAFC.

The winner of Friday's game will face Seattle in the Western Conference semifinals after the Sounders completed a two-game sweep of the Houston Dynamo earlier Sunday.

A playoff date with their regional rivals, the Sounders, would be a "fantastic" prize for winning the first round, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini. 

"The reward is enormous, but we need to climb the Everest," he said. "We did the first part of the climbing today, and we need to do the second part, the