Cavalry’s shot at a double had a crushing end at Tim Hortons Field.
Forge FC scored two unanswered in extra-time to knock off Cavalry FC 2-1 in the Canadian Premier League Playoff Final Saturday night at Tim Hortons Field to win the North Star Cup and deny the regular season champions their opportunity to win a second trophy.
“Usually, I’m a man of a lot of words, but I’m speechless right now,” said Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. on the OneSoccer broadcast. “Because I thought we were brilliant, I thought we deserved to win with the chances, with the way we’ve controlled it and they’ve undone us with two goal of the season contenders.
“How does that happen twice? You know you’ve got it going for you when those goals go for you.”
Following a cagey defensive start, the Cavs came closest to opening the scoring In the 75th minute and were turned aside by a spectacular save from CPL Goalkeeper of the Year Triston Henry who denied Jesse Daley’s volley inside the box with a firm hand.
The net would not be filled until extra-time.
In the 11th minute of the first half, Cavalry broke the goalless deadlock with Ali Musse connecting at the edge of the box on a one-timer teed up from Daley.
The defending champions proved their mettle once again with an equalizer before halftime in extra-time.
On a short corner kick, Forge attacker Béni Badibanga chipped it over Cavs goalkeeper Marco Carducci on the far post.
Forge’s Tristan Borges then put the home team in front for good with a direct goal on a corner kick, known as an Olimpico, in the 112th minute.
“I’m more shell-shocked to be honest,” said Wheeldon Jr. “We can’t lose that game that way, it’s just ridiculous top corner goals and we can’t get that back.
“All we can do is just keep being competitive, keep going forward and our time will come because once we get rid of this final curse, we’ll be back and we’ll win again.”
Forge, four-time CPL champions, earned the right to host the playoff final by knocking off the Cavalry 2-1 on Oct. 14 at Spruce Meadows in the semifinal tilt. Cavalry edged Pacific FC by the same scoreline in the second semifinal last weekend at ATCO Field.
The Hamilton side, who had only lost one playoff game in its team history leading into the night, own a six wins and a draw edge on the Cavs in seven playoff meetings.
The 2023 title marks the first time in CPL history a home team has won the championship match.
“It’s a match for the ages, look at this atmosphere, it’s incredible. I talk about winning it last year in Ottawa and our away fans there, and you look at this today and it’s just magical,” said Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis.
“Sometimes people ask me do you reflect on this stuff? This is five years and it’s incredible, this club, this city, these fans, these players, the players are phenomenal. They’ve gone through their ups and downs this year and we’ve challenged them and here we are again.”