Seattle, Washington: Sounders Routed 5-1 in Vancouver and Head to Decision Day Holding the Last Playoff Spot

The Seattle Sounders took a 5-1 loss at BC Place in Vancouver on Sunday afternoon, a Cascadia Cup defeat that leaves Seattle holding the ninth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with one match left in the regular season.

Vancouver scored 58 seconds into the match. Bruno Caicedo took a pass from Ryan Gauld down the left side and crossed to Brian White, who headed the ball home from the top of the six yard box. Gauld scored himself inside 10 minutes, and Mathias Laborda made it 3-0 in the 43rd minute, putting the match close to out of reach before Seattle had settled.

White scored his second goal in the 53rd minute. The goal was his 100th across all competitions for Vancouver, and he is the first player to reach that mark for the club in its Major League Soccer era, The Canadian Press reported.

Jordan Morris gave Seattle its only goal in the 62nd minute, a right footed shot on assists from Albert Rusnak and Hassani Dotson. Aleksa Cvetkovic answered seven minutes later with a close range finish, set up by Cheikh Sabaly and Ranko Veselinovic, to close the scoring at 5-1.

A conference title party for the hosts

Vancouver (18-8-7, 61 points) had already clinched first place in the Western Conference on Saturday, when second place FC Dallas drew 1-1 with Sporting Kansas City. Sunday brought the club's second straight conference title, and the team marked it with club records for home wins (11) and home points (35) in an MLS regular season, according to MLSsoccer.com.

The win also finished a clean sweep of the Cascadia Cup for Vancouver. The Whitecaps beat both Seattle and Portland in every meeting this season, the first perfect record in the three team competition since it began in 2004. Vancouver also won the first meeting in Seattle, 2-0 on August 16. Goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka made four saves, and an announced crowd of 32,111 watched at BC Place.

Seattle's thin margin

Seattle (11-12-10, 43 points) is winless in its past five matches (0-3-2). The Sounders stayed in ninth place, the last playoff spot in the West, but the Portland Timbers can still catch them on Decision Day. Seattle has missed the postseason only once since joining MLS in 2009, Field Level Media reported. Goalkeeper Andrew Thomas saved five shots in the loss.

The Sounders close the regular season at home against Los Angeles FC on Saturday, Decision Day, Nov. 7. Vancouver closes at CF Montreal on Saturday and opens its playoff run at home on Nov. 22.