Final Score: Pacific FC 1-1 TSS Rovers (5-4 on pens.)
Goalscorers: Moore 90+7′; Hennessy 76′
2024 TELUS Canadian Championship — Preliminary Round
Match in a minute or less
Pacific FC advanced to the quarter-finals of the Canadian Championship on Wednesday, as they defeated League1 BC’s TSS Rovers 5-4 on penalties after drawing 1-1 in regular time.
After a cagey first half, one with few chances of quality, Pacific nearly opened up the scoring right after half time, as Andrei Tîrcoveanu had three big chances, but sent two off the post and one just wide.
At the other end, however, the Rovers finally found their moment of magic in the 76th minute, as Michael Hennessy slotted home on a breakaway after a nice through ball from Devin O’Hea.
Eager to hold on and complete the upset, while Pacific looked to get back into the game, it led to a late flurry of chances from both teams, as Reon Moore missed a glorious opportunity in the box for Pacific in added time, before the Rovers Kyle Jones nearly scored a goal from half right after that to almost put the game away.
Despite his earlier miss, however, Moore would stick at it, and was rewarded in the 98th minute, as he slotted away from close range for his first Pacific goal, sending the game to penalties.
There, Pacific got the job done, as after the Rovers took a 1-0 lead through two rounds, Pacific clawed things back to tie it 3-3 by the end of the fifth round, which led to Josh Heard scoring the winner in the seventh round after a Rovers miss. Thanks to that, Pacific will now advance to face Atlético Ottawa in the quarter-finals after Ottawa defeated Valour 7-0 earlier in the day.
Three Observations
Pacific survives battle of wits in intense cup match vs Rovers:
Sometimes, the beauty of cup soccer can ironically be the chaotic, frenetic and intense nature of the tie, which is caused by the pressure of playing in win or go home matches.
Knowing that a mistake or a moment of brilliance can lead to a game-changing moment, it can sometimes lead to cagier sequences or it can lead to chaos, with tactics often going out the window.
This game certainly was a reminder of that, as it brought all of the drama that one can reasonably hope from a cup tie.
On one side, there was Pacific, who have a history of making runs in this competition, and were eager to stamp out their status as favourites. Then, on the other side, there were the Rovers, who having only been tipped to play in this competition a few weeks earlier, who were looking just to survive in any fashion as underdogs, tapping into their experience as the first-ever League 1 side to defeat pro opposition a year prior.
That battle of confidence versus desperation can often swing one of two ways – either the favourites will impose themselves on the match and show their quality and confidence, or the underdogs will step up and use that desperation to their advantage without looking unorganized.
In this one, the latter ended up occurring, as the Rovers used their experience, doing well to straddle the line between their hunger and not going over the edge.
Not intimidated by the occasion, they came out strongly, looking disciplined and organized defensively. Sitting in a 4-4-2 defensive block, they looked to limit space in wide areas, while remaining compact in central areas.
As a result, the first half ended up being quite cagey, with Pacific generating just 0.48 Expected Goals (xG) off eight shots, while the Rovers were unable to muster up an attempt. Yet, they didn’t mind that, as their defensive play had not only kept them in the game, but were allowing them to go toe-to-toe with Pacific, even if they weren’t generating the chances to show for it.
In the second half, things opened up, as Pacific found their feet, but so did the Rovers, as they started to grow in confidence as long as the game went on. As a result, both teams ended up trading blows, with the Rovers drawing blood first, before Pacific were able to respond in a flurry of late desperation to bring it to penalties.
From there, it was a true battle of wits, one where it would come down to who outlasted the other, and after it nearly looked to be the Rovers, Pacific calmly navigated to their final destination to get the job over the line.
With that, it was job done for Pacific. Certainly, this won’t be a performance to remember, as head coach James Merriman noted after the game, but he’ll also be pleased that his team was able to overcome a couple of tough tests and dig deep to get the job over the line.
At the end of the day, their success in this competition will be judged on how far they make it, and they did exactly what they needed to – they’re advancing to the quarter-finals, having overcome the plucky underdog.
“It’s disappointing for us as a group, we know that we made the game much tighter than it needed to be in the end,” Merriman said. “Yes, we scored in the last minute to take us to penalties, and that’s not good enough for us, but at the end of the day, I think there’s lots we’ll take and learn from this, and we advanced, so we move forward.”
As for those underdog Rovers, who will know that they weren’t supposed to come as close to a result as they did, it doesn’t mean that it won’t sting any less.
Yet, what will be important for them is how they respond from this. Having given a CPL team a rough ride for a third straight game in this competition, now sitting with a record of one win, one draw and one loss in those games, this Rovers team has more than proven that they can play at this level, and people will have taken note of that.
If they’re able to pick themselves up after a defeat like this, however, and recover to go and find success in League 1 BC action, allowing them to return to this competition in 2025 with silverware under their belt, that will be just as impressive as this performance, further showing the mentality that they demonstrated in this game.
“My message will be to keep your heads up,” Rovers head coach Brendan Teeling said afterwards. “We weren’t supposed to win this game, we almost did, but we’ve got to reset now, we’ve got to recharge for the next game. It’ll be a long journey home, but we’ve got a lot of resiliency in the group and we’ll be ready for (league play) this Sunday.”
Pacific use central channels to open up game, but consistency remains elusive in attack:
Understanding the importance of this game, Pacific were eager to respond after a quiet first half, and came out flying to start the second stanza as a result. Having felt that they were unable to impose themselves on the game enough on the ball, they started to move the ball around with more speed and purpose, eager to draw the Rovers out of their defensive block.
In particular, they started to attack more centrally, using Andrei Tîrcoveanu as a conductor, ensuring their new Romanian playmaker could play a key part of their attack. Within that, they found more success than in wide areas, as their combination play started to draw the Rovers out of position, opening up shooting opportunities that weren’t there earlier.
Then, consequently, they started to open up space out wide, as they started to draw the Rovers more centrally, freeing up the flanks for them to attack.
With that, Pacific started to knock on the door, looking more like the free-flowing attacking unit that they can be at their best.
Armed with dangerous players on the flanks, and central players who are eager to get on the ball and drive it forward, this team can be hard to stop when they’re attacking with freedom and creativity.
Yet, now the goal for them will be to do that with more consistency.
As seen in this game, and as has been the case throughout this season, their defence is far from an issue – they only conceded their first goal of the campaign in this game, and that was despite holding the Rovers to just two shots. They keep up that defensive play, and they’ll continue to push in this tournament and in league play.
Offensively, however, they’ve had flashes where they’ve looked like the team they can be, but haven’t been able to show it with regularity, which is why they sit with just four goals in four games, only three of them being in non-penalty situations.
If they’re to take advantage of the strong work they’re doing defensively, that’ll be a big focus going forward, as they’ll know they can hit another level as a team.
Therefore, while they can be more than pleased with their start, sitting with seven out of nine points in the CPL, and into the quarter-finals of this competition, they’ll continue to push for more and use this near-scare as fuel to help them do that.
“We need to be killers,” Merriman said. “We need to be more decisive, it’s clear in our mind what we’re trying to do when we go to goal, so it’s now the mentality of individual players that we’ll need more from going forward, for sure.”
Rovers relish the big stage once again:
All it takes is one moment of magic to break a game open. It can be a dangerous pass, a nice finish, a big dribble or something of the sorts.
For the Rovers, that came in the 76th minute. After 75 hard minutes of defending, one that was starting to take a toll on their entire group, the Rovers finally found their moment of magic at the other end.
After a sloppy Pacific turnover in midfield, former Pacific attacker Matteo Polisi picked up the ball and played it into space for Devin O’Hea, who picked the ball up in stride. From there, the Simon Fraser University product, who had trained with Pacific in the offseason, played an inch-perfect through ball to forward Michael Hennessy, who had made a great run in behind the defence.
There, faced with a 1 on 1 with the goalkeeper, Hennessy, a fellow SFU product who found the net five times for the university side this winter, made no mistake with his shot, curling it into the net to give his team an improbable lead.
It didn’t matter that it was just their first shot of the game, and that’d they were at a stage of the game where their legs were supposed to be tiring – they seized the moment about as well as they could’ve.
Yet, that’s what this Rovers team is all about. It doesn’t matter the stage, the opponent – they want to show the best version of themselves every time they take the field, and they did that once again in this game.
That’s why they’ve remained a team that continues to do a good job of pushing talent to the next level, with alumnus such as Joel Waterman, Patrick Metcalfe, Marcello Polisi, Julia Grosso and many more sitting as just a few of many examples of their ability to do that.
Often, it isn’t talent that can be the big difference between those at different levels in the soccer pyramid, but the mentality, as those at the lower levels can get caught up in the occasion and lose discipline in front of the bigger stages.
For the Rovers, however, they seemed to only grow in front of these lights, and they were nearly rewarded for it.
Because of that, they’ll look back on this match fondly, even if how close they were to victory will sit with them for a while. From the goal they scored, to some of the big defensive plays they had, their individual showings and more, they can leave knowing that they left their best out on the pitch, and played the Rovers way while doing so.
In a match like this, that’s all one can ever ask of themselves.
“This is just proof in the pudding that you can’t really take any opposition for granted,” Teeling said. “I think our organization has that kind of vibe, we’re a bit different and we just seem to have a knack for this competition, so hopefully we can be back next year.”
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Albert Kang, TSS Rovers
In a tough matchup against a strong Pacific midfield, Kang didn’t look out of place, as he put in a shift on both sides of the ball to help the Rovers nearly pull off the upset.
Despite being one of the youngest members of this Rovers side at 22, and one of the three starters who weren’t in the squad last year, he was not fazed by the occasion, and put up the performance to match.
Box score
Lineups
Pacific FC: Melvin (Gazdov 90+7′); Dada-Luke, Quintana (Meilleur-Giguère 59′), Amedume, Lajeunesse; Tîrcoveanu, Young (Yeates 59′), Toussaint, Sellouf; Reid (Heard 70′), Bahous (Moore 59′)
TSS Rovers: Sandhu; Dhillon (Tomé 62′), Smychenko, White, Zohar; Kang, Jones; Sangha (Mejia 83′), Polisi, MacMillan (Hennessy 70′); Habibullah (O’Hea 70′)
Goals
76′ — Michael Hennessy (TSS Rovers)
90+8′ — Reon Moore (Pacific FC)
Penalty Shootout
- TSS Rovers: Matteo Polisi — GOAL
Pacific FC: Ayman Sellouf — MISS - TSS Rovers: Kyle Jones — MISS
Pacific FC: Thomas Meilleur-Giguére — MISS - TSS Rovers: Devin O’Hea — MISS
Pacific FC: Steffen Yeates — GOAL - TSS Rovers: Michael Hennessy — GOAL
Pacific FC: Andrei Tîrcoveanu — GOAL - TSS Rovers: Nik White — GOAL
Pacific FC: Kunle Dada-Luke — GOAL - TSS Rovers: Ali Zohar — GOAL
Pacific FC: Cédric Toussaint — GOAL - TSS Rovers: Ivan Mejia — MISS
Pacific FC: Josh Heard — GOAL
Discipline
2′ — Yellow: Juan Quintana (Pacific FC)
14′ — Yellow: Zakaria Bahous (Pacific FC)
41′ — Yellow: Ali Zohar (TSS Rovers)
81′ — Yellow: Josh Tomé (TSS Rovers)
What’s next?
Pacific return their focus to CPL action this weekend, as they get set to host York United at Starlight Stadium on Saturday, May 4 (4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET). Meanwhile, the Rovers will kick off their League 1 BC season this upcoming weekend, as they open with a visit to UBC’s Thunderbird Stadium to take on the Vancouver Whitecaps on Sunday, May 5th (3 p.m. PT).
Watch all TELUS Canadian Championship matches live on OneSoccer. In addition to its website and app, OneSoccer is now available on TELUS channel 980 and on Fubo TV. Call your local cable provider to ask for OneSoccer today.