COMMERCE CITY — Brek Shea scored his first goal of the season in the 84th minute and the Vancouver Whitecaps beat the Colorado Rapids 1-0 on Friday night.
Vancouver (4-4-1) won in Colorado for the first time since 2012 for its second straight road victory. Colorado (1-6-1) had its losing streak extended to five games, and its overall winless stretch reached seven matches.
Shea entered as a substitute in the 69th minute. Fellow sub Nicolas Mezquida played a nice through ball to start a breakaway and Shea raced down the left side to roll a shot past goalkeeper Tim Howard from the corner of the penalty area.
Howard played for the first time since serving a three-game suspension. He didn't get much help up front as Colorado's first shot on goal came in the 59th minute on Shkelzen Gashi's non-threatening shot from distance.
Vancouver nearly had an own goal in the 55th minute. Defender Jordan Harvey poked a loose toward his own goal and it hit the post, but David Ousted batted it away on the goal line.