PORTLAND — Darlington Nagbe scored a spectacular goal early and Darren Mattocks added his first of the season as the Portland Timbers defeated the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1 on Saturday.

Nagbe’s highlight reel strike came in the 18th minute, when he received a pass 30 yards from the goal and danced away from two Vancouver defenders. Moving toward the penalty area, he shrugged off a challenge by Kendall Waston, who has an 8-inch and 50-pound advantage.

Nagbe finished the play by blasting a right-footed shot from 20 yards out over Vancouver goalkeeper David Ousted and off the bottom of the crossbar for his second goal of the season.

“It was amazing. I was there looking at him and I couldn’t believe it, to be honest,” said midfielder Diego Valeri. “He was almost falling down, so I don’t know how he kicked the ball. That’s Darlington, right? He can do something from nothing.”

Valeri was stretchered off in the 80th minute with a hip injury. Coach Caleb Porter said the team will evaluate him during the wek.

Portland (5-2-1), which leads the Western Conference, doubled its lead in the 39th minute, with Nagbe involved again. His threaded pass found Valeri on the right wing, who then drove a cross into the Vancouver penalty area. Mattocks was racing into the area and met the cross, driving the ball past Ousted from 5 yards out.

“These two guys are amazing,” Mattocks said of Nagbe and Valeri. “They’re fantastic, and that showed in my goal. I made a great run across the box to create space. Nagbe found Valeri before and it’s teamwork.”

Mattocks was filling in for co-leading scorer Fanendo Adi, who was suspended for the game. Goalkeeper Jake Gleeson was out with a hip flexor, and winger Sebastian Blanco was limited to a substitue role.

“It goes to show that the guys who haven’t been playing as much are patiently waiting for their chance to take it,” Mattocks said. “It’s a long season. We’re going to need depth on this team, and it showed today.”

Fredy Montero halved the lead midway through the second half for the Whitecaps (2-4-1) when he cleaned up a rebound on his own missed penalty for his fourth goal.