Newly formed club San Diego continued their impressive debut season in Major League Soccer with a 2-1 victory in the best-of-three Western Conference first-round series.

Danish international player Dreyer — recently awarded MLS Newcomer of the Year — scored the opening and closing goals, while Norway’s Pellegrino contributed one goal in each half at Snapdragon Stadium in Southern California.

Dreyer put the home team ahead in the fifth minute. Onni Valakaridelivered a looping pass from the left wing to Dreyer in front of the goal, who then turned and shot with his left foot into the bottom left corner.

San Diego had a chance to increase their lead in the 12th minute, but Valakari’s close-range header from Dreyer’s cross was blocked.

However, Pellegrino made it 2-0 in the 17th minute. His initial attempt to head home a similar lofted pass from Valakari was saved by James Pantemis, but Pellegrino was quick to follow up with a right-footed shot that slipped past the diving Portland goalkeeper.

Norwegian Pellegrino extended the lead to 3-0 in the 53rd minute with a volley into the top corner, and Dreyer scored again in the 79th by sprinting onto a long ball from Hirving Lozano and finishing with a left-footed shot from the left side that curled into the bottom right corner past Pantemis.

One minute later, Portland was down to 10 players after Juan Mosquera received a straight red card for a foul on Lozano.

San Diego enjoyed a historic first regular season, finishing atop the Western Conference with 19 wins and matching 63 points with 18-win Vancouver.

They began the playoffs with a 2-1 win over eighth-seeded Portland but lost in a penalty shootout following a dramatic 2-2 draw in game two, which included a stoppage-time equalizer by the Timbers.

They secured a spot in the Western Conference semi-final against Minnesota United.

Minnesota defeated Seattle Sounders on penalties after a 3-3 draw in their third series game on Saturday.