Cavalry FC Scores Eight In CPL’s Biggest Win

With August having seen Valour FC put together wins against York9 FC, FC Edmonton, and the Halifax Wanderers, Rob Gale was hoping that his Winnipeg-based club would be able to use its positive momentum when squaring up against spring season winners Cavalry FC.

Things didn’t go to plan.

It took just thirteen minutes for the current fall season table-toppers to break the deadlock after Oliver Minatel was fouled by Jose Galan in the penalty box, with team captain Nik Ledgerwood stepping up to blast the ball into the back of the next. The goal would be the Calgary-based side’s first of eight, making last night’s blowout victory the biggest in Canadian Premier League history.

Cavalry FC would finish the first half with a 3-0 lead after Nico Pasquotti and an own-goal from defender Adam Mitter added to Cavalry’s tally, with head coach Rob Gale making some adjustments at half time to limit the damage. It didn’t work: five more goals came in the second half, with both Oliver Minatel and Julian Buscher getting braces, and former Arsenal academy product Jordan Brown getting the club’s eighth and final goal in the game’s dying minutes.

It’s kind of like a slap in the face. I don’t think it can get worse than that so [we] can just learn from it and try to move forward.

Louis Beland-Goyette

The league’s biggest win prior to last night’s lopsided Labour Day bout came in late July, when York9 FC bested the Halifax Wanderers in a 6-2 thriller. Chilean striker Rodrigo Gattas injected a special moment of history into the match by bagging the league’s first-ever hat trick.

Valour FC will be left stewing on last night’s result for some time given that the club’s next game isn’t until September 12, when it plays host to Forge FC – a club which has beaten Valour FC in all four of their previous encounters, scoring ten goals to Valour’s three across the previous four matches.

For Cavalry FC, the game was a statement: a few pundits had talked about the Calgary-based side winding down this fall season. After ten games played, Cavalry FC currently sits on 19 points, compared to the 24 it had accumulated in the ten-game spring season. The Canadian Championship quarter-finalists currently sit three points above Forge FC, with the caveat that the Hamilton-based club has three games-in-hand due to moving fixtures for its impressive run in the CONCACAF League.

How both club react to the blowout victory could define their respective seasons: sitting at fourth in the table, the last month of action hasn’t ultimately been bad for the Winnipeg-based side, but coming back from an 8-0 trouncing will take some strong mental resolve. For Cavalry, the club will want to carry this momentum into next Wednesday’s Al Classico, which will determine the winner of the Wildrose Cup contested between the two Alberta-based sides.