Final Score: Cavalry FC 1-2 Forge FC
Goalscorers: Mason 80′; Daley (own goal) 29′, Bekker 50′
2023 CPL Playoffs
1st vs. 2nd Match

Match in a minute or less 

Forge FC are headed to a fifth straight CPL Final after yet another playoff victory against rivals Cavalry FC, this time 2-1 at ATCO Field in the league’s first-ever 1st vs. 2nd match.

Forge opened the scoring after forcing an own goal from Cavalry’s Jesse Daley, before adding another through captain Kyle Bekker in the second half. Substitute Joe Mason scored a late goal, his first of the season, for Cavalry to put Forge under pressure, but the Hamilton side held on for the win.

The loss did not eliminate Cavalry FC in their quest to win the CPL Playoffs for the first time, but did take away the chance for the 2023 CPL Shield winners to lift another trophy at their home ground. Instead, they will now host a semifinal against Pacific FC on October 21, with the winner heading to Hamilton for the final.

Three Observations

Forge FC headed to fifth straight final, which will be hosted in Hamilton 

The North Star Cup will be handed out in Hamilton this year, as in the league’s fifth season Forge FC will appear in their fifth straight final, and look to win their fourth, after an incredibly well-contested 1st vs. 2nd place match in Calgary on Saturday. Forge has hosted the final once before, in 2021, but has never won the trophy in front of their home fans, something they will be incredibly keen to do on Saturday, October 28.

“It’s an excellent feeling, it’s not something that’s easily accomplished,” said Forge FC manager Bobby Smyrniotis of reaching his fifth final. “It is a hard thing to win, it is a hard thing to play in these big games, and everything comes down to margins. Today the game was about margins, two very good teams out there playing very good football. I think maybe the fans leave disappointed, it was an exciting match. It keeps on showing the growth of this league.

“These games are always special, sometimes you can go your whole career as a player or as a coach and not have the opportunity to play in these, so you can’t take them for granted and we are looking forward for the opportunity to try to win one at home, in front of our home crowd.”

It comes after a regular season of ups and downs for the Hamilton side, who finished the season with two straight losses and if not for the fourth tiebreaker in the CPL standings wouldn’t have been playing in this match, or had the chance to host the final, at all.

“The toughest challenge that we have had as a coaching staff, and even as players from the start of the year is to keep everyone hungry and motivated, it is a tough thing to do,” said Smyrniotis. “Maybe that’s why Michael Jordan stopped after three years, took a year off, and went after it again. It is tough to keep on going and keep players at the highest level and I think that’s what we have seen this year is a little bit the ups and downs of what we’ve had in the season, but it’s go time. We know these ones are one and done. We didn’t think of this game as you come here, you lose you get another chance, it was more of a one-and-done type of game for us with no thought process into what’s next.”

As for how they have kept staying motivated to win when the games have truly mattered, captain Kyle Bekker offered a rather simple explanation, losing sucks.

“We have a bunch of guys in there who have been on a lot of losing teams in their career,” he said. “It is difficult, and when you have the chance to win, when you are a part of that people feed off of it, you want more of it. Once you get a taste of it you just want to keep going so I’ve been on the other side many times and this is better so, you just keep going.”

Kyle Bekker haunts Cavalry once again with a masterful midfield performance 

It is like something out of a horror film for any Cavalry fan. Kyle Bekker, arms stretched out and smile just as wide, staring you down after scoring yet another dagger of a goal at Spruce Meadows.

It came again on Saturday as part of a fantastic performance from the Forge captain, who in his fifth season in the CPL remains one of its undeniable stars. Bekker set up Forge’s first goal with an outstanding corner that resulted in a Cavalry FC own goal before scoring the winner on a brilliant strike in the second half, which prompted the staredown of the Cavalry supporter’s section. He could have easily had a second on another solid chance in the 72nd and thrived in a more advanced role than he has played of late.

Kyle Bekker makes it 2-0 for @ForgeFCHamilton, and what a goal it was 👀

He picks out the back of the net, and celebrates right in front of the Cavalry fans 🎯#CanPL I 📺 @onesoccer pic.twitter.com/ZoY810qhfV

— Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer) October 14, 2023

“As a coach, you thoroughly enjoy it, you thoroughly enjoy watching it and you love the fact that he is in your locker room,” said Smyrniotis. “He is able to transmit the messages that we want to give to the group on a player level. His influence on the team is very big off the field and of course, it’s on the field in these big matches and we’ve seen this again today.”

The Forge captain also had won possession seven times, made two interceptions and five clearances as he helped lead his group over the line with Cavalry pressing for an equalizer late.

For Bekker personally, this was a chance to change history after he was sent off in the second leg of last year’s semifinal against Cavalry and was suspended for the 2022 Final in Ottawa. Instead, he played hero on Saturday, while getting an assist, quite literally, from the man who replaced him in last year’s final.

Noah Jensen came into the lineup after Woobens Pacius was unavailable through injury and was solid in an advanced midfield position. While he didn’t get on the ball often, his pass to Bekker set up the winner and he generally provided Forge with some good looks in attacking situations creating two chances and managing a shot on target.

Smyrniotis says they will know over the next couple of days the full status of Pacius. For now, he is thrilled with what Jensen showed in yet another big match despite not seeing a lot of action lately.

“For us, it is that next man up mentality,” said Smyrniotis. “We’ve got a deep squad, and Noah has been excellent for us this year. In the last few games hasn’t had a lot of minutes and here he is, he steps into a very important match, no different than he did last year in the finals against Ottawa, and he has put in a great performance.”

Cavalry FC gets a chance at a different kind of do-over against Pacific FC 

While they are disappointed that the 2023 Final won’t be coming to ATCO Field, Cavalry remains confident that even if the path is now longer, the double is still doable.

The hosts put in a good performance against Forge on Saturday, dictating the majority of the possession and territorial advantage, but ultimately gave themselves too big of a mountain to climb after allowing Forge to take a two-goal lead.

“Momentum in playing games, that’s what it’s all about, bit of momentum, bit of magic, bit of mistakes,” said Cavalry manager Wheeldon Jr. “I think there were errors on the first goal, bit of magic on their second one and that probably sparked a response. I thought we were terrific, Sergio Camargo has hit the bar, Ali Musse I think the fans celebrated his free kick, Joe Mason scoring and we kept peppering them and peppering them but they bend but they didn’t break so I thought it was a good playoff game. So we will lick our wounds and move on to next week.”

Cavalry were particularly frustrated with the way that they allowed the first goal. Set piece defending has been one of their specialties this season, so to allow such a calamitous goal to take place as a result of disorganization, especially with the stakes this high, was an error they were not thrilled about making.

“They hated that first goal, that is the one that changes it, and then Kyle Bekker’s quality, that second goal coming in,” said Wheeldon Jr. “When they came to our place and we scored three, that second goal gives that insurance and usually these are one-goal games.”

Daan Klomp said after the match that the group were also frustrated with their response to the first goal. After starting the match incredibly well, Cavalry did not register a shot attempt between the time Forge scored their first in the 29th minute and the Hamilton side’s second goal in the 50th.

Wheeldon Jr. however did like his team’s response towards the end as they gave Forge everything they could handle in their quest to find a late equalizer. They had 14 shot attempts in total, Mason got one back off of a brilliant set-piece routine and as aforementioned by the Cavalry manager, came within inches of scoring on a few occasions.

Coming into this match, Tommy Wheeldon Jr. talked about the opportunity to write a new history. Cavalry were unable to do that on Saturday night. They will, however, be offered a second chance to do so next Saturday, again at home, as they face Pacific FC in a rematch of the 2021 CPL semifinal. They lost in extra time on that night, and missed out on a chance to reach the 2021 final, which was also in Hamilton. They are now more determined than ever to change that narrative.

“We are definitely more motivated to win, we only had two losses the whole season at home, and back-to-back that’s not going to happen,” said Klomp.

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Kyle Bekker, Forge FC

The Forge captain rose to the occasion as he has so many times for the Hamilton side, setting up the opener before scoring the winner. He also created two other chances, and had a team-leading 56 touches during an all-around influential performance.

What’s next?

Forge FC are off to the 2023 CPL Final, which they will host on Saturday, October 28 (6 p.m. ET) at Tim Hortons Field. They will play the winner of a semifinal that Cavalry FC will host against Pacific FC at ATCO Field on Saturday, October 21 (4 p.m. ET/2 p.m. MT).

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