Atletico Ottawa defeated Pacific FC at Starlight Stadium for the second time this season, thanks to goals by Sam Salter and David Rodriguez to propel themselves above Forge FC and reclaim first place in the Canadian Premier League with a record of 10-5-1 (35 points).
Atletico Ottawa is undefeated in their last seven matches, winning five and keeping an incredible six clean sheets in that span. Ottawa has been firing on all cylinders, scoring 11 goals and only conceding one in their last seven games.
Considering Ottawa conceded 15 goals in their first nine league matches, it’s been a sensational turnaround; as it stands, they are conceding exactly one goal per game. With their creative and skillful offense, that is a manageable tally.
Their backline, the youngest in the CPL, has conceded only 16 goals, the third fewest in the league, and has been tremendous all season in front of Nathan Ingham, who is making a case for goalkeeper of the season with six shutouts.
Meanwhile, Atleti have scored a league-leading 35 goals, seven better than the next best offensive team, Forge FC. Salter, the CPL’s Golden Boot leader with 11 league goals in 2025, is a big reason for Ottawa’s success; however, Atletico has relied on a team approach, with 10 different goal scorers in league play and four players (Salter, Rodriguez, Ballou Tabla, and Kevin Dos Santos) all notching at least four goals.
Salter’s goal against Pacific means he becomes Atletico Ottawa’s all-time leading goal scorer in all competitions with 27, surpassing Ollie Basset’s record of 26 in three seasons in the Nation’s Capital. He is on pace to break the single-season goal record of 13, held by Pacific FC’s Alejandro Diaz in the 2021/22 season and surpass his career high of 11 goals in 2021.
The match started slowly, with both teams locked in a defensive, tactical stalemate for much of the first half. The only big chance by either team in the first half came in the 10th minute, when Salter’s close-range headed attempt from a cross by Tabla was heroically cleared off the line by Pacific goalkeeper Sean Melvin, who scurried across the face of the goal to palm it away from danger. Less than a minute later, Manu Aparicio struck the post from 20 yards away.
While there were no breakthroughs in the first half, Ottawa was largely dominant throughout. They registered nine shot attempts to Pacific’s two, two shots on target to Pacific’s zero, and held 65 percent possession; however, the xG battle was 0.38 to 0.08 in Atletico’s favour, meaning only a handful of the chances they generated were a real threat.
Ottawa was able to shut down Pacific and limit them to only two low-percentage shot attempts, neither of which tested Ingham. A big reason for their improved defensive showing is their double midfield pivot of Juan Castro and Aparicio. Having two stout CDMs who can take up a lot of space, close down passing lanes, and prevent runners from getting in behind them while simultaneously being able to advance up the pitch to create chances offensively has been instrumental to Ottawa’s balanced performance on both sides of the ball.
“The focus was on our team having a good performance and to keep improving in the model, defensively and offensively,” Ottawa’s assistant coach, Diego Campos, said postgame. “We were focused on having a good performance, and I think that the team did that very well.”
It really has taken the pressure off their young back three –Sergei Kozlovskiy, 17; Noah Abatneh, 20; and Loic Cloutier, 21– allowing them to play more freely, with more confidence and without having to worry about taking on the league’s best attackers with no midfield support. In turn, the improved defensive play has made life easier on Ingham, who has only faced four shots on target in the last two games.
In the season’s early stages, Atletico consistently had to rely on scoring at least two or three goals a game to win because of their mistakes and lapses defensively. With six clean sheets in the last seven games –the only goal they conceded was against Forge on July 12– needing to always outscore your defensive errors has not been as much of a necessity. That has been especially helpful on the road. Ottawa has accumulated a 5-3-1 record (18 points) away from TD Place this season. Their 2-0 loss to Halifax in May is still their only league loss all year.
That loss –which ended Ottawa’s 5-2-0 undefeated start to the season, pushed Ottawa to a new level; since that match, their focus, intensity, and attention to detail defensively have been extremely apparent. They’ve only conceded three goals since May 24.
In the 61st minute, Cloutier played a brilliant long ball down the right flank to Salter, who controlled it expertly off the bounce by heading it beyond two onlooking defenders before running onto it and dispatching it into the center of the goal, beating Melvin far side.
Ottawa kept the pressure on, looking to put the game to bed, generating one quality chance after another. Their high press paid off.
Pacific tried to play out from the back, but Castro’s intelligence and vision allowed him to read the pass and intercept it. He passed it calmly to Rodriguez, who effortlessly dribbled past three defenders, cut inside to his strong left foot before firing it into the bottom left corner, beyond Melvin’s outstretched arms.
Salter’s league-leading 11 goals put him two ahead of York’s Julian Altobelli in the Golden Boot race; he also has three assists. Rodriguez leads the CPL in assists with five in only 12 games.
Atletico Ottawa ended the match on top in nearly every statistical category, outshooting Pacific 17-10 (4-3 on goal), creating five big chances to Pacific’s one, and dominating possession 65-35 percent. Ottawa won the xG battle 1.4 to 0.65.
On August 3, Ottawa will host an improving York United squad, who propelled themselves into fourth place in the CPL, and only one point behind third-place Cavalry, after a 1-0 road win against Cavalry on Saturday. Atletico is undefeated against York, winning and drawing one match in league play and beating York United 6-4 on aggregate (2-1 in leg one and 4-3 in leg two) in the Canadian Championship quarterfinals.
Next up for Pacific FC is a huge test against Cavalry at home on August 4. Pacific, who sit in sixth place in the league, 12 points behind fifth-place Halifax (who hold the final playoff spot), need to start compiling wins together quickly, or else their slim playoff chances will fade away.
