‘It’s extra special’: Cavalry slays the dragon Forge to hoist club’s first North Star Cup

They’ve tasted defeat, but now they’ve tasted champagne.

Proving that third time certainly can be the charm, Cavalry FC vanquished the ghosts of their past on Saturday, overcoming Forge FC 2-1 to secure the Calgary’s club’s first Canadian Premier League playoff championship.

After losing the 2019 and 2023 finals to Forge, Cavalry made amends for those painful memories with a spirited win Saturday in front of a record home crowd of more than 7,000 raucous fans, who crammed their way into ATCO Field.

Goals from Tobias Warschewski (penalty) and Sergio Camargo in the first half were enough to lift Cavalry to a 2-0 lead before the break. While Forge brought the arrears back to one with a goal from Alexander Achinioti-Jönnson early into the second half, the hosts managed to hold their defensive lines until the final whistle – despite a spirited late push from the regular-season champions and four-time playoff champions from Hamilton.

“I’ve had champagne thrown in my face for the last half hour, so my answers might be a little wonky, but we’ve got to savour these moments,” said Cavalry head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. in the post-game press conference, a few minutes after hoisting the North Star Cup on a makeshift stage in front of the ATCO Field grandstand.

“Winning is hard. I said this in the pre-game press conference. We’ve been at the doorstep over and over. We won the regular season – this is way more fun.”

Employing their preferred 4-2-3-1 formation, Cavalry came out with high attacking intensity, spurred on by the feverish crowd. Cavalry’s high press was extremely effective, with Warschewski and Camargo relentlessly hounding Forge’s players in the early minutes, complemented by the tireless running of wingers Jay Herdman and Ali Musse.

The first big chance of the match fell to Herdman in the 19th minute, but after bringing down a ball from Warschewski, the New Zealand winger’s shot was blocked by Jassem Koleilat in Forge’s goal.

Eventually, the hosts’ pressure earned them a penalty shortly after the half-hour mark, when Warschewski was held in the box by Dominic Samuel. Warschewski took the penalty himself, coolly roofing the ball past Koleilat for his 14th goal of 2014, and his seventh in Cavalry’s last five games.

Forge responded almost immediately, but a long-range piledriver from Noah Jensen was too central, and Cavalry ‘keeper Marco Carducci was able to palm the shot over the bar for a corner kick.

While Cavalry has had a propensity for letting leads slip all season, they managed to find an insurance goal just a few minutes after Forge’s lone shot on goal of the first half – and once again, Warschewski, who was later named the match’s MVP, proved pivotal.

After a long ball pumped forward by Carducci was brought down, it bounced around the top of Forge’s 18-yard box before Warschewski eventually brought the ball under control. While his initial shot was blocked, the ball fell back at his feet and he slid a pass through to Camargo. Cavalry’s No. 10 took a touch toward goal before calmly side-footing it into the bottom right corner past an on-rushing Koleilat.

It was a fitting moment for Camargo, who is one of just two remaining players from Cavalry’s inaugural 2019 roster still playing for the team, alongside Carducci.

“Sergio has done so much thankless work for the team,” Wheeldon Jr. said. “He’s a real leader, like he’s an emotional leader, and we just fancy him. Even my brother called it… he said, ‘Sergio will score today.’

“I thought he was outstanding. He deserves this.”

With Cavalry up 2-0 as the two teams went into the half-time break, it felt like the host side was cruising. But Forge quickly showed why they are the CPL’s most successful club by pulling a goal back shortly after the restart from Achinioti-Jönnson.

An innocuous chip into the box from left winger Beni Badibanga was corralled by Tristan Borges, who touched it inside. Alessandro Hojabrpour got on the end of Borges’ touch, sliding the ball across Cavalry’s six-yard box to the Swedish centre back, who was able to poke it over Carducci’s line.

“To concede a goal that early in the second half obviously wasn’t ideal,” Carducci said. “But you know, we started so well and the team showed how good we are and how good we can be. Our patterns were flowing, the guys were moving, and our press was unbelievable. I was more or less a spectator in the first half, which is always what I want to be.

“But it’s a final. Forge are a high-quality team. They’ve been here every season and they’ve won this thing four times for a reason. We knew it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park in the second half. We just showed what we showed all year – different ways to win.”

Achinioti-Jönnson’s goal breathed new life into Forge’s attack, and the visitors immediately took hold of the game and pressed for the equalizer.

Before long, both coaches started to make changes. Wheeldon Jr. brought on Charlie Trafford in place of Camargo and Malcolm Shaw on for Herdman, while in the opposing dugout, Bobby Smyrniotis responded by subbing in Terran Campbell and Daniel Parra-Duran.

Cavalry’s fans likely grew increasingly nervous in the final 15 minutes, as Forge continued to create chances. As the clock ticked down, Wheeldon Jr. eventually subbed on Eryk Kobza for Fraser Aird, to add even more defensive steel.

And after an anxious seven minutes of stoppage time – which included the occasional counterattack from Cavalry, two of which forced impressive saves from Koleilat – the referee blew his whistle, ending a six-season wait for Cavalry fans to finally see their players hoist the league’s marquee trophy; the North Star Cup.

“Hard to find the words,” Carducci said, of the opportunity to finally get his gloves on the trophy that had until now eluded him.

“It’s a special feeling. I think I go first to the fact that I got to hoist the trophy with my brothers beside me, with my family, with my friends all around, with 7,000 people who have been supporting us all year, and with the city on our back.

“It’s extra special. We’ve been close before, and that pain, that difficulty of not getting over the line lives in some of us who have been in those moments, so it’s a great sense of relief and a real privilege.”