Expansion club San Diego kept their dream first season in Major League Soccer going with a 2-1 triumph in the best-of-three Western Conference first-round series. Danish international Dreyer - the newly named MLS Newcomer of the Year - opened and closed the scoring while Norway's Pellegrino added a goal in each half at Snapdragon Stadium in Southern California.

Dreyer put the hosts ahead in the fifth minute. Onni Valakari's looping pass from the left wing found Dreyer in front of the goal and he turned to fire a left-footed shot into the bottom left corner. San Diego had a chance to double the score in the 12th minute but Valakari's close-range header from a cross by Dreyer was blocked.

But Pellegrino made it 2-0 in the 17th. His first attempt to head home an almost identical pass lofted by Valakari from the left was batted away by James Pantemis, but Pellegrino was there to slide a right-footed shot past the diving Portland goalkeeper.

Norway's Pellegrino pushed the lead to 3-0 in the 53rd minute with a volley into the top of the net and Dreyer struck again in the 79th, racing onto a long pass from Hirving Lozano and beating Pantemis with a left-footed shot from the left side of the area that angled into the bottom right corner.

A minute later Portland were reduced to 10 men when a frustrated Juan Mosquera was sent off with a straight red card for bringing down Lozano. San Diego enjoyed a historic inaugural regular-season campaign, topping the Western Conference with 19 wins and the same 63 points as 18-win Vancouver.

They opened the playoffs with a 2-1 victory over eighth-ranked Portland, but fell in a penalty shoot-out after a wild 2-2 draw in game two that included a stoppage time equalizer for the Timbers.

They booked a one-match Western Conference semi-final with Minnesota United. Minnesota beat Seattle Sounders on penalties after a 3-3 draw in their series game three on Saturday.

Anders Dreyer

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