TORONTO – Sixty-odd days, 35 matches, 75 goals; the 2019 Spring Season has come to an end.

A lot has been learned over the first half-year of the Canadian Premier League.

The teams that excelled – Cavalry FC and Forge FC – leaned on strong attacks and solid defences.

Cavalry topped the table by a clear five points, handily taking the title of Spring champions. They scored the most goals, 16, and conceded the fewest, tied with Forge at seven. It didn’t hurt that both had preexisting ties that helped them flourish.

A quick glance at the table supports one of the truisms of soccer: It’s all about the goals.

The balance between attack and defence, putting more in the opponents net than they can get into yours, will always be pivotal.

While goal-difference up and down the table is nearly in order, slight fluctuations can have big results.

FC Edmonton and HFX Wanderers FC both scored just eight goals through ten matches, but by allowing two fewer, Edmonton took third place. Pacific FC and Valour FC both allowed the league-high 15, but by scoring three more, Pacific secured an extra two points.

With the schedule and travel gruelling, a quick start and momentum are key.

Where Tommy Wheeldon Jr.’s Cavalry flew out of the gates, Bobby Smryniotis’ Forge stumbled, drawing 1-1 on that opening day with York9 FC and losing two of their first four. From there, it was always a chase, a desperate hoping that the leaders would stumble. Forge won five-straight in their pursuit, including one at Spruce Meadows, to make it a contest, but Cavalry would see out the challenge in their penultimate match, winning away to York to seal the title.

Depth will be tested, injuries can be devastating to projections, and youth will be called upon to step up. Pacific know all about that.

But with the turning of the seasons, the Canada Day games, the spring finale, showed that as time goes on, those narratives can change.

The two teams languishing at the bottom of the table for much of the season – York9 and Pacific – closed the season with strong wins: Jimmy Brennan’s York on the road against Valour and Michael Silberbauer’s Pacific at home over spring champions, Cavalry.

York lost just one of their last six matches and Pacific won two of their last three.

To determine third-place, Jeff Paulus’ Edmonton beat Stephen Hart’s HFX 2-0, pipping them to the podium. The Eddies, who went six matches without a goal, closed the campaign unbeaten in four, winning their last three while outscoring their opponents 6-1, including a 1-0 win over Forge. The Wanderers, on the other hand, won just one of their last four.

Interestingly, both top sides lost their final games of the Spring. Cavalry, having all but sealed the title by winning their first seven matches, lost two of their last three.

With the Fall portion of the 2019 CPL season set to get underway this weekend with a trio of matches, the question will be how instructive the last few weeks have been; how much is the past precedent?

Cavalry faces tricky away trips to Pacific and HFX in the opening two matches of the fall, either side of their Canadian Championship home leg against the Vancouver Whitecaps. Forge will play six league matches in July and kickoff their Concacaf Nations League adventure on July 30 when they host Antigua GFC at Tim Horton’s Field.

Where Cavalry and Forge, and to a lesser extent Edmonton, made the most of their previous bonds to take the top three spots, the rest of the sides have grown from scratch. With 10+ games under their belts, the fruits of that effort will only ripen.

Y9, a team that went winless through their opening five matches, is perhaps the best example of that, but so too are HFX and Pacific. Intriguingly, all three sides have been seriously hampered by key injuries to valuable players.

All three will have a chance to hit make statements in the second season with Pacific hosting both high-fliers Cavalry and Forge and York facing HFX in Halifax before both open their Third Round Canadian Championship series at home against the Montreal Impact and Ottawa Fury FC, respectively.

Valour, perhaps the most intriguing side given the way Rob Gale wants to play, ended the spring campaign with four-straight losses, wildly entertaining matches that averaged three-goals-per-game.

The Winnipeg side fell from relative grace as a strong candidate to finish in the upper half of the inaugural table to land the bottom. The only side not involved in this weekend’s festivities, they will have an extra week to lick their wounds and get back to the drawing board before a July 17 date away to Edmonton.

With Cavalry having earned themselves a berth in the two-legged 2019 CPL Championship, the race to join them begins on Saturday with the slate wiped clean, more-or-less – points earned in the spring will factor in should Cavalry take the fall as well.

Bring on the Fall portion of the season – it’s wide open.