If ever a football match could channel madness, this one might have done it.
Down 10 men and seemingly buried by Pacific’s resurgence, Cavalry FC clawed their way back from the jaws of defeat to steal a dramatic 3-3 draw at the Starlight Stadium Sunday.
What could have been the Cavs’ sixth away loss of the season instead turned into one of those defiant chapters that define a champion’s mentality.
Club legend Daan Klomp’s stoppage time stunner, which interestingly is his second since making his comeback to the team, ensured that the defending Canadian Premier League (CPL) champions escaped Langford, British Columbia with a point to enjoy.
Nitgnee lights the sparks early
As the match started, Cavalry came flying out of the gates.
Within the opening minutes, Ali Musse rattled the crossbar with a thunderous freekick that had Pacific goalkeeper Sean Melvin beaten all ends up. The Tridents struggled to contain the Cavalry warnings and it was Goteh Ntignee who broke the deadlock in the 21st minute.
The winger, who was electric down the left flank throughout the match, picked up a pass from Mihail Gherasimencov and bulldozed his way through three Pacific defenders before slotting home a sweet left-footed finish.
“Our attack is so dangerous,” said Klomp after the match. “Today, you saw Goteh (Ntignee); he was unstoppable. It’s great to have him in the team, hopefully we can get him scoring like this in the playoffs, as well.”
Pacific, however, refused to stay quiet. Amidst the incessant Cavalry charge, the home team equalized against the run of play when midfielder Sean Young levelled things up just before halftime. Young curled a beauty into the top corner after a clever setup from Roshawn Juhmi.
Red card turns the tide
The second half began in similar fashion with the Alberta outfit attacking from the get go.
The Cavs pressed high, Ntignee tormented defenders, and talisman Sergio Camargo – who recently became a father – pulled strings beautifully in midfield.
That dominance paid off again in the 51st minute when Musse’s quick transition found Ntignee, who calmly dispatched his second goal of the match to restore Cavalry’s lead.
But football, as it loves to remind us, rarely follows the script.
Just ten minutes later, the game flipped on its head when Cavs midfielder Michael Baldisimo was sent off after receiving a needless second yellow for interfering with a Pacific freekick.
The red card sent shockwaves through the Cavalry setup and Pacific pounced instantly. Within moments, 19-year-old Sami Keshavarz headed his first-ever CPL goal from a gorgeous Christian Geco-Taylor cross to tie things up at 2-2.
And then came the dagger – or so it seemed at the time.
Pacific legend Alejandro Diaz produced a stunning first-time strike in the 69th minute to give his team the lead. From two down to three up, the Tridents had completely flipped the game. The goal was Diaz’s 44th career CPL goal and his fifth since rejoining the team.
“The goals against on the road have been poor. Honestly, it’s not been good enough. It’s not just on our goalkeeper and defenders, it’s about the collective; we’ve got to do better,” said Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr.
Klomp leads charge as Cavalry refuse to die
Away from home, down a man, and faced with that Trident energy, most teams might have folded at this point; however, the Cavs refused to throw in their weapons.
They threw everything that they had at the opposition in those dying minutes. Musse tested Melvin from a tight angle, substitute Eryk Kobza saw his shot from distance blocked, and the dangerous Tobias Warschewski chipped in dangerous crosses.
And just when things seemed down and out, skipper Marco Carducci launched one last hopeful ball towards the Pacific goal from a set piece. Caniggia Elva jumped to flick it. And there was Daan Klomp, charging into the box like a man possessed, to score the equaliser.
94th minute. Pandemonium. Disbelief. The kind of energy that leaves both sides collapsed.
For Pacific, the result was gutting. They had the match in their hands. For Cavalry, it was a comeback that might not have felt the most rewarding, but still felt almost like a victory.
“It’s difficult for us not to see out the game. That’s a bit the story of our season, right? We just need to finish and see out the game. That comes with confidence and belief,” said Pacific FC head coach James Merriman in the post-match press conference.
“We started to concede space and pressure, and they found a way back in in the last dying minutes. So we should manage to see the game out and take maximum points, and that’s frustrating, but at least the spirit, heart and hunger to stay in the game, that’s important.”
The draw keeps Cavalry firmly in third place with two matches remaining. They’re three points clear of York United and four ahead of HFX Wanderers as they now head home to face Forge FC on Friday at ATCO Field.
