Buildup to Playoffs: Cavalry FC
By Marvellous Chukwukelu, October 26 2024—
On Nov. 19, 2022, the Canadian Premier League regular season came to an end. The flurry of matches — which featured every team in the league and, per FIFA standards for the last round of league/group games leading to a knockout round, were played simultaneously to ensure that all results are fair — had much excitement to offer and ended with confirmation that Langford, BC’s Pacific FC will be the fifth and final team to battle for the coveted North Star Cup. They join Hamilton, Ontario’s Forge FC; Toronto, Ontario’s York United FC; Ottawa’s Atlético Ottawa; and Calgary’s very own Cavalry FC. As the Cavs look to go into their fourth consecutive playoffs, let’s take a look back and review the season they have had.
The last time we checked in on the Cavs, they were not doing particularly well. While they had maintained a commanding defensive presence, their ineffectiveness in front of the goal had left them with more draws than wins and losses combined. Even though they reversed the trend and stormed up the table with a win–draw–loss record of 8–3–1 in the last 12 games, the cloud from earlier in the season remained as they were forced to settle for a second-place finish with a total tally of 48 points, behind Forge FC with 50 points who replace them as the current holders of the Canadian Shield.
Standings aside, the players who make the Cavs have certainly had an exciting season. Free-scoring Tobias Warchewski – who has somehow scored five goals in his last three games – carried his good form to the end of the season, securing the Golden Boot with 12 total goals edging out Atlético Ottawa’s Ruben Del Campo Ferreira. Team captain, Marco Carducci, also led the league in clean sheets — games in which a keeper does not concede a goal — finishing with eight total clean sheets to put himself ahead of the three-way-tie between Atletico Ottawa, Pacific FC and Forge FC who all share second place.
The Cavs also put up the best defensive record in the league this season, conceding four fewer goals than any other team — they conceded 27 goals — and losing the least amount of games — only four. They had the highest xG – expected goals – per 90 minutes this season at 1.54. Yet, while the regular season champions overperformed their own xG by 0.09, the Cavs underperformed theirs by 0.15. This just goes to show that the Cavs are still indecisive in front of goal. This becomes more apparent when you consider that current regular season champions, Forge FC, lost twice the number of games the Cavs lost. Still, in the 20 games they did not lose, they won 15. On the other hand, in the 24 games they did not lose, the Cavs only won 12.
How they break out against this indecisiveness will be at the forefront of my mind when I watch them this weekend as they play in the semifinals of the North Star Cup against shield holders, Forge FC, at the Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ontario.
Just a quick reminder though. In the last five matchups, Forge has beaten them three times while the Cavs have only beaten Forge once. One of those three losses was the 2022-23 North Star Cup finals which they lost in extra time. The Canadian Shield which was their sole honour for the last season was also lost to Forge FC. So, the question becomes, will they walk out of Ontario with a victory — restoring some balance to this rivalry that has become very one-sided and earning the honor of hosting the North Star Cup in their home grounds of the ATCO Field in Spruce Meadows, Calgary — or will they allow these familiar foes to see them out of the tournament once more.
Oct. 27 will certainly be a very interesting day and you can watch the action on One Soccer.