Seattle Sounders sponsored the creation of a two-foot-tall silver cup to be awarded annually to the club that finishes with the best record in the season series between the three rivals. The Whitecaps dominated the series during the mid-2000s, not losing to the Timbers in league play for over 3 years between May 2004 and July 2007. The Portland-Vancouver rivalry reached new heights near the end of the 2000s after Portland knocked Vancouver out of the USL playoffs in 2007, only for the Whitecaps to return the favor twice, delivering a death blow to the Timbers' postseason runs in both 2009 and 2010. In the 2009 season, Portland was the top-ranked club in the league but fell to Vancouver in a dramatic two-game series that the Whitecaps won 5-4 on aggregate. Portland fell behind defending champions Vancouver in the first game of the 2007 USL playoff opening round 1-0. However, on the return leg, the Timbers ran right through the Whitecaps, advancing with a 3-0 win and a 3-1 total goal advantage on aggregate. This was the first time Portland had advanced past the first round of the A-League or USL playoffs, in what was described as "an intense and offensive contest between the Northwest rivals". In 2009 and 2010, supporters of the Timbers and Whitecaps decided to continue the Cascadia Cup without the Sounders while playing in the USL, after Seattle moved to Major League Soccer in 2009. Timbers and Whitecaps supporters voted to only included regular season USL-1 matches played between the teams and Portland won the cup for the first time. Portland and Vancouver faced each other once again in the 2009 USL playoffs, this time in the second round. Portland was the top overall team in the league in 2009, compiling a 16-4-10 W-L-D record, while Vancouver was the lowest-seeded team to make the playoffs. Vancouver won the first game of the two-game playoff series 2-1 at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, BC, meaning that the Timbers would need to win at home in order to advance. Portland nearly fought back to equalize overall but second-half goals from Martin Nash and Marlon James forced a 3-3 tie at PGE Park, and the Timbers never scored again, giving Vancouver the win 5-4 on goal aggregate. In 2010, the final year of both clubs playing in USL, they met again in the playoffs, this time in the first round