Tobias Warschewski’s 27th-minute goal sent Cavalry FC into Canadian Premier League championship play with a 1-0 win over Forge FC in Sunday’s qualifying semifinal.
But defending champion Forge still has a chance to join the second-seeded Cavalry in the finals in Calgary on November 9.
No. 1 Posey faces No. 4 Atletico Ottawa in the semifinals next Saturday. Ottawa beat fourth-place York United FC 5-4 in a penalty shootout Sunday morning after finishing 2-2 in overtime in the quarterfinals.
CBC Sports will broadcast the championships live on CBC, CBC Gem and cbcsports.ca starting November 9 at 3pm PT (12pm PT).
This is Cavalli’s third trip to the CPL finals, having lost to Posey in 2019 and 2023. Meanwhile, Posey suffered only his second loss in 14 career playoff games (10-2-2).
Cavalry almost went ahead in the 24th minute at Tim Hortons Field on Sunday, but Forge’s Alessandro Hojabrpour scored with an acrobatic save from Callum Montgomery’s header.
But Warschewski made no mistake, splitting the Forge defense three minutes later when he capitalized on goalkeeper Marco Carducci’s long free kick from just outside his own penalty box. Warschewski was first to the ball, ducked his chest to block a defender before slotting the ball home past goalkeeper Jassem Koleilat.
Forge maintained a 2-1-1 advantage in its regular season series against the Cavalry this year, with two 2-1 wins at Tim Hortons Field and a 1-0 loss and 1-1 tie at ATCO Field.
Hamilton’s Forge is seeking its fifth title and third straight title in its sixth postseason appearance. Forge won in 2019, ’20, ’22 and ’23 and was runner-up in 2021.
This season, they are aiming for a double by setting the best record in the regular season (15-8-5), two points ahead of the Cavalry (12-4-12).
York’s 16-year-old scores
In Ottawa, Atlético survived two York comebacks to win on penalties in front of an announced crowd of 4,630 at TD Place, their first-ever home playoff victory.
A stoppage-time goal from 16-year-old York substitute Shola Jimoh tied the score at 1-1, forcing extra time. Ollie Bassett put Ottawa ahead in the 47th minute on a corner kick for a highlight-reel “Olimpico.”
The teams traded goals in overtime when Ruben del Campo scored a penalty for Ottawa in the 92nd minute when Sam Salter was brought down by Elijah Adekugbe. York captain Mo Babouli equalized two minutes later when he headed home Jimoh’s cross.
The ensuing penalty shootout was the first in CPL playoff game history.
Amer Didic, Maxim Tissot, del Campo, Alberto Zapater and Ilias Iliadis scored from the penalty spot for Ottawa.
Juan Cordova, Brian Wright, Orlando Botello and Josue Martinez converted to York. Ottawa goalkeeper Nathan Ingham had a hand in Babouli’s second-round penalty attempt.
Ottawa defeated York 2-1 in the season opener in April, then lost the next three meetings 2-1, 4-1, and 1-0.
