Friday night saw perhaps the most impressive MLS win in Whitecaps history. Vancouver was riding a two-game win streak for the first time this season and sat two points out of the final playoff spot in the West. The Caps had not won three straight since June of last year (and had only done so twice since joining the MLS in 2011); the last away goal of  consequence for Vancouver came in mid-July in a 1-1 draw against Real Salt Lake. Since then, they’d been shut out in road games against Chivas USA, Chicago Fire, LA Galaxy and the dirty, rotten, stinkin’ Portland Timbers. (They scored once in Frisco to spoil a clean sheet for FC Dallas, but lost 2-1 to those scurvy, diving dogs anyway.)

To win Friday would require something special. The Seattle Sounders are among the league’s elite teams, and are currently battling the LA Galaxy for the Supporter’s Shield as regular season champions. Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins have been on a tear; with 31 goals between them, they are just 10 shy of the entire Whitecaps roster combined. The Sounders had scored in 11 straight matches, a remarkable streak in any soccer league.

Even the staunchest of the Southsiders merely hoped for three points — not only would a win keep the Cascadia Cup in Vancouver for another year, but it would draw the Caps back into the fifth and final playoff spot with just two games to play and leave Toronto FC six points back late in the charge for the Canadian entry to 2014-15 CONCACAF Champions League play. Oh, and the gravy: Sounders FC had never lost a fixture when more than 50,000 fans packed Century Link Field.

Truly, most Vancouver fans would have been ecstatic with a single point for a draw. All this other stuff was but a pipe dream for idle jawing over yet another pitcher at Doolin’s.

Until Friday, that is.

Carl Robinson focused on the back end, and coached his starting XI to shut the door on Seattle’s vaunted attack. From keeper David Ousted through the midfield of Matias Laba and Russell Teibert, blue shirts held back and maintained position throughout the match. Defensive backs Kendall Waston and Andy O’Brien, in particular, loomed large on the back end; Waston made fully sixteen clearances during the game, including a header off the Vancouver goal line in stoppage time.

Pedro Morales made several seeing-eye passes on the counter-attack, most notably in the final minute of the first half when he curled the ball in front of a streaking Kekuta Manneh. As he did three times last year, Manneh ran straight at the Seattle defense, turning them inside out before depositing the ball into the back of the net. Despite a decidedly lopsided advantage to Seattle in ball possession, it was Vancouver that led 1-0 at the intermission.

The second half largely consisted of the Sounders coming forward through centre field, getting pressured by a purposeful Whitecaps defense, then being pushed back without any genuinely dangerous chances. Seattle dominated in most statistical areas on Friday, but couldn’t develop any real pressure near the 18-yard box; unlike previous games that featured Whitecap breakdowns in coverage, this game demonstrated that the current core of Caps can indeed lock a game down when under pressure.

Near the end of the match, it looked like referee Jair Marrufo would lose control of things. Martins threw himself around like a pinball, taking down Ousted and Waston at various points in the second half. (He was also the guy whose boot went cleats first into Manneh’s hip, leading both to the Whitecaps goal and Manneh’s subsequent substitution out of the match.) I respect Martins as a player — he’s a huge talent, and can finish just about any ball you pass his way — but when you fly around trying to knock guys off their feet, you ought to get a card or two thrown in your direction.

Whether or not the Whitecaps manage to close out their final two games against awful San Jose and Colorado sides, this late run of three Ws ought to be a solid foundation for confidence next year. In seasons past, the final six weeks of the season have been atrocious slides into the basement, with unique ways to manufacture losses. This year, Vancouver has shown a newfound resilience; it’s a testament to Robbo’s style of coaching and a special brand of camaraderie in the Whitecaps locker room.

PS. The blue and white have never won four straight MLS fixtures. Nor have they ever won at Buck Shaw Stadium in San Jose. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but the Earthquakes are entirely beatable. We may be in store for some more Whitecaps FC history before this season is through.