Kimito Nono's First Two D.C. United Goals Earn 3-3 Draw With West-Leading Vancouver Whitecaps

D.C. United showed up at BC Place without its two leading scorers, facing the best team in the Western Conference, and somehow left with a point and a brand-new goal scorer. Kimito Nono had never found the net for the Black-and-Red before Saturday night. He did it twice.

Nono struck in the 16th and 80th minutes, captain Lucas Bartlett headed in the other, and D.C. United twice came from behind to play the Vancouver Whitecaps to a 3-3 draw in front of 26,080 fans. Brian White, Bruno Caicedo and Thomas Müller scored for Vancouver, which led 2-1 at halftime and 3-2 with 18 minutes left but could not close it out.

A Back-and-Forth First Half

Vancouver started on the front foot. White headed wide off a corner in the ninth minute, and two minutes later Emmanuel Sabbi tore down the field before laying the ball off for White, whose low drive forced Sean Johnson into a save.

D.C. struck first anyway. In the 16th minute, a Keisuke Kurokawa corner bounced around the box, Nathan Ordaz kept the ball alive, and Nono poked it home from close range. It was his first goal for the club, and it arrived with D.C. missing top scorers Tai Baribo and Louis Munteanu, both away on international duty, according to the club.

Vancouver needed only nine minutes to respond. Johnson stopped White's first effort from the middle of the box in the 25th minute, but White pounced on the rebound and smashed it into the top right corner. Per the Whitecaps, it was his fourth straight MLS match with a goal and his 17th MLS regular-season goal of the year, a new career high.

The rest of the half was a goalkeeper showcase. Johnson denied Müller and Tate Johnson within three minutes, while Yohei Takaoka saved from Jackson Hopkins and then from Nono on the right side of the six-yard box. Kye Rowles, already booked in the 23rd minute, headed wide in the 39th, and João Peglow fired over in the 41st. Then, in the third minute of first-half stoppage time, Caicedo played a one-two with Müller down the left and slotted a right-footed finish into the bottom right corner. Vancouver 2, D.C. 1 at the break.

Back and Forth After the Break

D.C. sent on Nikola Markovic for Hopkins at halftime and kept pushing. Johnson saved from Sabbi and Caicedo early in the half, and the visitors started piling up set pieces. Bartlett headed one just wide in the 61st minute, Takaoka stopped Hosei Kijima in the 64th, and a minute later Kurokawa delivered another corner and Bartlett headed it in from close range. That made it 2-2, and it was the captain's fourth goal of the season.

Müller, the man the Whitecaps' own site calls a German legend, had the answer. After two misses in the 69th and 71st minutes, he took a pass from Aleksa Cvetković in the 72nd and drilled a right-footed shot from outside the box off the woodwork and into the bottom right corner. Cvetković, making his first start for Vancouver, picked up his first goal contribution for the club on the play.

D.C. still was not done. In the 80th minute, Kijima swung in a cross and Nono volleyed it in with his right foot from the right side of the six-yard box. White had a header blocked in the 84th, Sam Adekugbe headed over from a Ryan Gauld corner as the clock hit 90, Takaoka saved a long-range effort from Andre Dozzell, and Mathías Laborda fired the final chance high and wide five minutes into stoppage time.

Nono, Müller and a Pair of Strikers in Form

Nono was everywhere: seven shots, three on target, two goals, and four ground duels won, per D.C. United. For a player whose first two goals for the club arrived in the same match, it was some introduction.

Müller was named the Whitecaps' man of the match after a goal and an assist, and he finished with five shots. The club said it was his 10th goal and eighth assist of the season across all competitions. White also had five shots, three on target, and the Whitecaps noted he now sits three goals behind Lionel Messi's 20 in the Golden Boot race.

On the D.C. side, Kurokawa's set-piece delivery created two of the three goals, per the club. Kijima, making his first MLS start since March 1, added an assist and eight defensive contributions. Johnson made six saves and was the reason the night stayed close in the first half.

Eight Minutes to Respond

The turning point was D.C.'s reaction to Müller's goal. Falling behind for a second time on the road against the West leader is usually where a team folds. Instead, D.C. kept sending bodies forward and needed only eight minutes to draw level again. A side that finished with 36.6 percent of the ball refused to play like an underdog.

Numbers From a Six-Goal Night

• Shots: D.C. United 21, Vancouver 16. On target: Vancouver 9, D.C. 8.
• Possession: Vancouver 63.4 percent, D.C. 36.6 percent.
• Corners: D.C. 10, Vancouver 7.
• Saves: Sean Johnson 6, Yohei Takaoka 4.
• Passing: Vancouver completed 469 of 548 passes; D.C. completed 222 of 309.

What It Means

Vancouver moved to 15-5-6 with 50 points and, according to the club, remains three points clear at the top of the West with a game in hand. The Whitecaps said it is the quickest they have reached 50 points in their MLS era, and they have still never lost an MLS match under head coach Jesper Sørensen when leading at halftime. They head out for five straight road matches, starting with a rescheduled game at Chicago Fire FC on Oct. 6. Their previous outing was a 3-0 win at Real Salt Lake on Sept. 19.

D.C. United moved to 6-12-8 with 30 points and sits 11th in the Eastern Conference, per the club. That is 12 draws on the season, and this one followed a 2-1 home loss to Charlotte FC on Sept. 19. The club noted D.C. now has five wins in 12 all-time regular-season meetings with Vancouver. Next up is a friendly against German side Paderborn at Audi Field on Sept. 30, then a league trip to Inter Miami on Oct. 10.

Return of Serve

This was less a soccer match than a tennis rally with goalkeepers, and D.C. kept returning serve. Vancouver is still the team everyone in the West is chasing. But on a night when the Whitecaps hit three, D.C. hit back every single time, and a player who had never scored for the club walked off with two.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Match notes as reported by D.C. United (dcunited.com) and Vancouver Whitecaps FC (whitecapsfc.com).