Despite a well-fought second half, Pacific FC came out of the first leg of the annual Canadian Championship with a loss to Calgary’s Cavalry FC.
The Alberta team scored two goals in the first half of Wednesday night’s rainy match at Westhills Stadium but several fans in the crowd of about 2,300 kept their spirits high for the home team with drums and chants that lasted through to the end of the game.
In the end, Cavalry FC came out with a win 2-0.
Pacific FC will have another shot at defeating Cavalry FC in Calgary next week, but will have to fight hard if they want to make it to the second round of the Canadian Championship.
READ MORE: Pacific FC enters Canadian Championship with a game against Calgary’s Cavalry FC
“This is 180 minutes, this is the first half gone,” said Pacific FC coach Michael Silberbauer. “We haven’t made it easy on ourselves but there’s still 90 minutes to try and correct it.”
Silberbauer noted that Calgary is an experienced team and while the Pacific FC players are pushing hard, they need to follow through in front of the goal.
“There’s so much talent in this group,” Silberbauer said. “They’re young, they’re heavily front loaded and I believe this team will only get stronger.”
Cavalry FC is currently undefeated in the Canadian Premier League. Calgary’s Dominick Zator and Oliver Minatel both scored with a header on Pacific FC’s Nolan Wirth.
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Wirth, who is from Comox, was on goal for the first time this season. He said it was a honour being able to play and see his family.
“We started off flat but we came around after a couple goals — a wake up call,” Wirth said. “We couldn’t find the back of the net, we couldn’t find the final pass that would put us through but hey there’s next week which we’ll look forward to.”
Pacific FC will face off against Cavalry FC again on May 22 on Calgary’s home turf but before then, has another home game against Toronto’s York9 FC on May 18.
