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Three-time defending champion Toronto FC will meet the Vancouver Whitecaps for the Voyageurs Cup for a second consecutive year, as both return to the title series of the Amway Canadian Championship with convincing semifinal victories.
Toronto ended an 11-game winless streak with a 2-0 victory over the Montreal Impact on Wednesday, getting first-half goals from Reggie Lamb and Ryan Johnson and then playing the final 73 minutes with only 10 men to prevail on the same aggregate score.
In Vancouver, British Columbia, Sebastian Le Toux scored twice in the second half and Darren Mattocks added an insurance tally in injury time - all of the goals set up by Davide Chiumiento - to rally the Whitecaps to a 3-1 win and complete a 5-1 aggregate victory.
Vancouver, which will host the first leg of the finals on May 16, has finished runner-up to Toronto, which will have the second leg on May 23, for three consecutive years. The winner qualifies for next season's CONCACAF Champions League beginning on July 31.
Toronto had lost nine of its previous 11 since beating the LA Galaxy in the quarterfinals of this past season's Champions League on March 14. Montreal outshot Toronto 17-10, but the Reds went ahead at BMO Field when Lambe scored in the second minute.
Richard Eckerlsey was ejected in the 17th for a foul on Sinisa Ubiparipovic, yet Toronto doubled its lead when Johnson knocked in a loose ball from a corner kick.
"It helped out a lot and it felt good and hopefully guys can feel real good about themselves and use this win to give them more confidence," Johnson said.
Despite an inability to qualify for the Major League Soccer playoffs in its five years of existence, Toronto has lost only two of 18 matches in the Canadian Championship and is unbeaten in its last 11 in the competition.
Vancouver, which won the first leg in Edmonton 2-0 last week, fell behind Wednesday when Yashir Pinto headed in Antonio Rago's goal for the second-division North American Soccer League club's first goal against the Whitecaps.
But Vancouver, which has the fifth-best record in MLS, equalized in the 75th with Le Toux's first goal, then went ahead 12 minutes later on the Frenchman's second.
The win was Vancouver's fifth straight, a run in which it has surrendered only two goals.
