This time, D.C. United didn't falter at home. Second-half goals from Chris Pontius, Andy Najar, and Stephen King put the game out of reach of the visiting Vancouver Whitecaps, and the defense held out to give Joe Willis a 4-0 shutout win in his first-ever professional match.
United scored on their first major attack of the second half in the 48th minute. A long ball from United's own half by Santino Quaranta fell kindly to Najar, who raced to the end line and tried a tame-looking shot that somehow manaed to squeeze between the arms and legs of Jay Nolly and into the net to make the score 2-0.
That goal just about finished off Vancouver, who only had one good chance the rest of the evening. That came in the 66th minute, when Eric Hassli got on the end of a left-wing cross by Jonathan Leathers. However, Willis got across the goal mouth in plenty of time to block the point-blank chance. United almost had their third goal immediately following, but Dwayne De Rosario hit the post with a shot before firing the rebound high.
The third goal came with 70 minutes gone after a neat interchange of passes between Pontius, De Rosario and King. The passage appeared to end when King's shot was blocked by a Vancouver defender, but the rebound spun right to Pontius, who banged the ball into the open net via the underside of the crossbar.
De Rosario, not King, should have bagged United's fourth with ten minutes left, but the Canadian could only redirect Marc Burch's left-wing cross high and wide from close range. King picked his teammate up on United's very next attack, when he was found unmarked in the center of the box and rolled the ball into the net with 81 minutes gone.