Kekutah Manneh Hat Trick: 18-Year-Old Lifts Whitecaps Past Sounders (VIDEO)

WATCH: Teen Scores Hat Trick

By Keith Hickey, Goal.com

The Vancouver Whitecaps kept their playoff hopes alive and dented Seattle's Shield ambitions in a 4-1 win at CenturyLink Field, with youngster Kekutah Manneh in fantastic form with a hat trick.

The Vancouver Whitecaps started the scoring in the 12th minute. Jhon Kennedy Hurtado's headed clearance was poor and Daigo Kobayashi sent it right back the other way. Teenager Kekutah Manneh beat Hurtado to the ball in a footrace and finished smoothly under Michael Gspurning to make it 1-0.

Manneh scored his second shortly before halftime. Camilo latched onto a long ball from Lee Young-Pyo and moved past Djimi Traore. When Hurtado moved out of position to cover the Brazilian, DeAndre Yedlin failed to move inside, leaving Manneh to run onto a ball from Camilo and finish one-on-one.

The 18-year-old wrapped up his hat trick in the 54th minute, again combining with Kobayashi. The pair played a give-and-go to pull the defense out of position before the midfielder put a short pass right onto Manneh's feet, allowing him to score his third of the night.

Mauro Rosales scored Seattle's only goal in the 69th minute. Yedlin's cross from wide right created chaos in the box, and while Osvaldo Alonso's shot was blocked, Rosales would not be denied.

Nigel Reo-Coker grabbed his team's fourth goal in the 83rd minute, catching Seattle on the counterattack and finishing between Gspurning's legs.

Vancouver (12-11-9) is now three points out of the playoff spots, although fifth-placed LA has a game in hand. Second-placed Seattle (15-10-6) misses an opportunity to take the lead in the Supporters' Shield race.

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