CALGARY — A 2019 campaign of firsts continues Wednesday night for Cavalry FC with a date against the Vancouver Whitecaps in the third round of the Canadian Championship (10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT, OneSoccer).

The meeting marks the first away game versus a Major League Soccer club for a Cavs side that captured the Canadian Premier League spring season title and has begun the fall session with three straight wins.

With the leg tied 0-0 on aggregate, the group from Calgary hold its destiny in its hands — a reality not far from the mind of the squad.

CanPL.ca spent some time with Cavs defender Mason Trafford to get a peek at the team’s mentality going into the mid-week CanChamp tilt:

What did you learn in the opening leg of the third round versus Vancouver?

First thing’s first: it was a really good game. We have a result we can be happy with going into Vancouver, giving ourselves a very good chance to get something out of the game. I think we have to stay humble. It’s still an MLS side. They’re a strong side despite a run of form recently that hasn’t been fantastic. We’re aware of their threat, and I think it’s a matter of us going there and playing our game, executing our game plan. If we do that, we give ourselves a chance.

How do you potentially take advantage of those struggles the Whitecaps have had in their league play as of late?

Having been an athlete and being an athlete now, I know what they’re going through. It’s tough when you’re in a bad run of form, and it seems like everything you do isn’t working out. You’re a bit more fragile mentally. For us, we’re almost on the opposite spectrum as we’ve had quite a good start and this Fall season we’ve won a few games. All of that stuff goes out the window when the whistle blows. It’s a 90-minute game, and we’re going to come out intense. I think all you can really do is play the game that the manager’s set up for us, execute out that game plan — that’s what you can control.

Despite the team’s success as winners of the spring season and a 3-0 to the fall CPL campaign, you still go into B.C. Place as the underdogs, given that the Whitecaps are an MLS side and are the hosts.

We go in there with not a lot to lose. We’re not expected to win, but for us, we want to win. We’re going there with the objective to win. We’re not going there to just partake. We’re going there to try and get a result and bring it back to Calgary. There’s not a ton of pressure on us, which allows us to go there, be free, enjoy the moment and play the game open and free. That’s when we’re at our best. For them, there might be a bit more pressure; I’m not sure. I’m sure they want to win this game as much we do because the carrot at the end of the rope is special with progressing through this tournament and what lies ahead.

Something head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. has talked about a lot is having a roster of 23 individuals who can play at any time. Each starting 11 has looked different for the Cavs throughout the Canadian Championship. What can you say about your team’s depth?

That’s one of our big strengths, especially in the CPL. I think that’s one of those things you never really know you have. You never really know how everyone is going to react when their time comes to play. Luckily for Tommy and our club, when everybody’s been asked to play, pretty much to a man, everybody has delivered. It’s made Tommy’s job very difficult week in and week out [laughs]. That being said, the busyness of the schedule between the CPL and the Canadian Championship, it’s almost necessary to have a big squad because you’re travelling across the country, playing in big, intense games. You can’t do that with just 11 guys, or you’d burn out before the end of the season. We’ve been lucky that we’ve been able to rotate. That level hasn’t dropped, and we’ve maintained our winning ways. I think that’s the sign of a strong club and strong management group that’s put together a group of guys that can win in different scenarios.

With an opportunity to play Montreal in the next round of the Canadian Championship, how do you avoid looking ahead and just focusing on the task at hand Wednesday night?

The nature of sport, our sport especially, it’s important that you take it one game at a time. In soccer, there’s a different game plan for every game. You really have to focus, and part of our success is how our staff are breaking down the opposition and how we are going to play against them. If you start to look ahead, you can’t. There’s a specific way we’re going to play against the Whitecaps, which is a different way that we’re going to go against Valour this coming weekend. It’s the nature of a detailed coach and club. For us, we’re hungry, and we know the MLS right now is the top dog in a sense, but we want our shot. We’re a young league and a young team. We want to test ourselves against these top Canadian teams. The only way to do that is one game at a time and try knock one off. Then we’ll get to the next game and see who it is, and we’ll try to knock that one down too.