Down two goals early and staring at defeat, the Vancouver Whitecaps stormed back in front of 22,437 roaring fans at BC Place on Sunday, riding a Brian White brace to a 2-2 draw with LAFC and stretching their unbeaten run to 11 matches.

The point was enough to keep Vancouver atop Major League Soccer's (MLS) standings, as the Whitecaps now sit alone in first place with 27 points from 12 games 鈥� two ahead of Cincinnati, who lead the Eastern Conference, and five clear of Minnesota, who is second in the Western Conference. 

But league dominance is only part of the picture.

Just two weeks removed from a seismic win over Lionel Messi's Inter Miami in the Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals, the Whitecaps find themselves on the cusp of North American glory. That historic final, a winner-take-all showdown with Mexican giants Cruz Azul, is now just weeks away, set for June 1.

First though, they had another heavyweight to contend with.

Los Angeles FC came into the match boasting two MLS Cup final appearances in the past three seasons, and they wasted no time showing their pedigree.

Mark Delgado opened the scoring in the eighth minute and Denis Bouanga doubled the visitors鈥� lead nine minutes later from the penalty spot, stunning the Vancouver faithful and silencing the usually boisterous Southsiders.

But Vancouver didn鈥檛 flinch.

It took just seven minutes for the Whitecaps to strike back.

A perfectly executed set piece saw Sebastian Berhalter loft a 40-yard cross into the box, where MLS scoring leader Brian White rose to meet it. His header beat former French international goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, ricocheting off the crossbar and into the net to cut the deficit in half.

White鈥檚 13th goal across all competitions wouldn鈥檛 come until nearly an hour later 鈥� but when it did, it sent BC Place into a frenzy. The April MLS Player of the Month found himself in prime position once again, nodding in Ali Ahmed鈥檚 header from just yards out to level the score.

That proved to be the final goal of the night, and while Vancouver couldn鈥檛 find a winner, there was no shortage of optimism post-match.

"It's great to have fans continue to come out and support, and kind of get on the bandwagon of what we have going on here," White said. "I think we can have a great year, and hopefully we can enjoy that with more and more people."

White, who missed last week鈥檚 match against Real Salt Lake with a tight hamstring, returned in dominant form, earning man of the match honours and moving into a tie for the league lead in goals with eight.

"I think it shows the turning of what we were in the past. I think at times we would've been happy to come out with a point," White said. "We were a little bit frustrated to let in a couple of not great goals. We have to continue to learn from these mistakes that we made."

Head coach Jesper Sorenson has had plenty of reasons to smile in his first season at the helm. With Sunday鈥檚 result, he became the first manager in league history to earn 27 points from his first 12 MLS matches. Just over a third into the season, he was full of praise for White鈥檚 performance.

鈥淏rian is a player where when you have him on the pitch, you have the feeling he can always score,鈥� Sorenson said. 鈥淚t's a great feeling to have and he's been great for us all year long, also in the games where he hasn't scored."

Sorenson praised White鈥檚 positioning and intelligence inside the box, emphasizing a patient approach.

鈥淚 just think, for me, when I talk to Brian, it's about not focusing too much to try to push towards his chances, but more let them occur naturally and don't force anything,鈥� Sorenson said. 鈥淚 think he's found a very good balance of all the time helping the team and all the time being in positions in the box where we also want him to be when we're attacking.鈥�

It wasn鈥檛 just White making noise, either. Berhalter鈥檚 pinpoint assist was his seventh scoring contribution in the past five games. He now sits at nine on the season across all competitions. Ahmed, meanwhile, picked up his sixth assist of the year, tying him for the team lead alongside Pedro Vite and Jayden Nelson.

The draw kept Vancouver鈥檚 record at a sparkling 8-1-3, with both the Supporters鈥� Shield and Western Conference top spots still in their control.

Next up, the Whitecaps head to Texas for a clash with Austin FC on Saturday, May 17. Kickoff at Q2 Stadium is set for 5:30 p.m.