Iloski hits perfect hat-trick to take San Diego top of the West

Milan Iloski scored four times as San Diego FC stormed to a 5-3 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps to leapfrog them to the top of the Western Conference.

The Whitecaps have been a force in MLS this season, but struggled to match San Diego at BC Place on Wednesday.

Iloski completed a perfect nine-minute hat-trick in the first half to put San Diego in control, despite Edier Ocampo netting just 65 seconds before the American got his third goal.

He then netted his fourth just over a minute into the second half as Anders Dreyer rounded off a hat-trick of assists.

Mathias Laborda pulled another one back for Vancouver in the 66th minute, but they could not mount a fightback despite late drama. Tomas Angel added San Diego's fifth from the bench before Antoine Coupland netted another late consolation in the 96th minute.

The Whitecaps' defeat also allowed Minnesota United to close the gap towards the top as they beat the Houston Dynamo 3-1.

Bongokuhle Hlongwane scored twice in three minutes midway through the second half, with his first a fine volley low into the centre of goal.

Robin Lod made sure of the points in the 70th minute, but they could not hold out for a clean sheet, with Felipe Andrade scoring from close range deep in stoppage time.

The Loons move on to 33 points, two behind Vancouver, and three off the leaders, San Diego.

San Jose Earthquakes also pushed themselves into the playoff places by coming from behind in the second half to earn a 4-2 win over nine-man FC Dallas.

At the other end of the table, the LA Galaxy remain rooted to the bottom after a 2-0 defeat to the Colorado Rapids.

Greg Vanney's side were undone by two goals in four first-half minutes, with Djorde Mihailovic netting his eighth goal of the season before Calvin Harris, who also struck the post in the second half, made sure of the three points in the 28th minute.

FC Cincinnati kept the pressure on the Eastern Conference-leading Philadelphia Union as Evander led them to a 3-1 victory over CF Montreal.

Evander, who now has 15 goal involvements this season, opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time, with his volley beating Jonathan Sirois for power.

He then set up Luca Orellano for their second before grabbing his second goal in the 83rd minute, though Prince Owusu headed in a late consolation for Montreal.

They remain four points behind Philadelphia at the top of the East, though, as the Union edged to a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Fire.

Data Debrief: San Diego's statement of intent

At the start of the season, there would not have been many people who were backing San Diego to sit top of the West past the midway point of the campaign.

However, they piled on the pressure against Vancouver, having 12 shots, with eight of those on target, though they outperformed their 1.59 expected goals (xG) by some margin.

Iloski was responsible for nine of those efforts, scoring his haul from 0.93 xG, while he also had six shots on target, more than Vancouver managed combined.