It was a comprehensive Vancouver Whitecaps win, with the away side punishing a St. Louis City team that is in free fall with four goals Saturday night. Defensively, the Caps looked in control for most of this one, aside from a brief period in the second half.

More goals from Brian White, more assists from Ryan Gauld and a vintage creative performance from … Mathias Laborda? Read on to see how it all shook out in the report card.

Yohei Takaoka: 5.5
Takaoka’s defence didn’t do him any flavors by switching off on St. Louis City’s goal but that was ultimately a stop he will feel he should have made. He followed it up with a stout stop on a dangerous cross but nearly had another flub in the second half. After a strong start to the season, there have been a few more slips from Taka as of late.

Ryan Raposo: 7.5
Raposo consistently made himself available in the right side channel and showed flashes of danger there, with his runs constantly pulling defenders out of place to create space in the attack. He converted that into a well-taken goal. All of this adds to one of Raposo’s best performances in recent memory.

Mathias Laborda: 8
Was much more of a creative force than usual in this one and it was his pinpoint cross that led to the scramble that resulted in White’s second goal — and that wasn’t his first really dangerous ball of the night. I also thought he rose to the occasion physically in a way he doesn’t always and had a couple of nice moments defensively. Indiana Vassilev’s miss early in the second half spared his blushes in a big way after he fell asleep on a cross, however.

Ranko Veselinovic: 7
It was an adventure of a night for Ranko, who had a couple of shaky moments in the first half and had a bust up with Ryan Gauld but then followed it all up with a big goal line clearance in the second. He inched forward into a higher line as a result of St. Louis’ tactics and was asked to distribute a bit more in the process, something I thought he did quite well.

Bjorn Utvik: 7
Utvik has slowly become a favorite of Vanni Sartini and you could see why. He played the most long balls of any outfield player and completed nine of them, while also putting in a solid shift defensively.

Luis Martins: 6
Nothing flashy from Martins, who was asked to do the dirty work while Raposo bombed forward. He actually had more touches than the right side wingback did by the time he exited in the second half but they were of a much more defensive nature.

Andres Cubas: 7
His pressing forced the bad giveaway that led to the opener and it wasn’t just his pressing that stood out in this but his ability to be resilient to the always thorny SLC press as well.

Sebastian Berhalter: 7
Berhalter’s passing continues to stand out at a time when the Caps need every non-Gauld chance creator they could get. The long balls particularly packed a wallop in this one. His nonstop energy remains an asset at a time when the rest of the team is understandably gassed. Got caught out of position a couple of times but this was a good performance overall.

Ryan Gauld: 8
A simple little run and pass to tee up another assist for the Scot but it was well-executed per usual. His brilliant ball for Picault’s goal had a far higher degree of difficulty and he had a hand in every dangerous attack, racking up four key passes in the process. His set piece distribution was poor but that’s splitting hairs in a game like this.

Fafa Picault: 8
Slowly grew into this game and his dangerous run was instrumental in creating the danger that brought about the Caps’ second goal. Even before then, he offered some dangerous runs but the service wasn’t there or the end product didn’t quite come off. He was unfairly denied a goal but made a lovely run and kept his composure to beat Roman Burki and make sure he got on the score sheet anyway.

Brian White: 8.5
White didn’t have any complicated finishes to score in his fourth straight league match but both goals were well taken nonetheless. I thought his movement was excellent even beyond his two goals and gave him good looks at a couple of other goal scoring chances as well.

Alessandro Schopf: 6.5
His ball recovery and lay off for Fafa for what seemed to be the fourth goal of the match was excellent and I frankly don’t see the handball that Schopf apparently committed to chalk it off. Was a nice, clean sub appearance for the Austrian.

Sam Adekugbe: N/R
Was good to see Sam back on the pitch after his lengthy absence. This was the perfect time to get him some game minutes to build fitness, even if he didn’t have much to do.

Ralph Priso, Levonte Johnson, Damir Kreilach: N/R
The human victory cigars.