After riding the Whitecaps over two legs the Cavalry are ready for Impact.
Dominick Zator scored the winner on a header after Jordan Brown struck in the first-half as the Cavalry shocked the struggling Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1 in the second leg of the Canadian Championship Wednesday night at BC Place to advance into a fourth round clash with the MLS' Montreal Impact.
"Every single player out there have just defied the odds over and over again," said Cavalry head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. in the post-match press conference. "Whether it's the guys that have come with me from the PDL or whether it's the guys that have started with the CPL or the first leg at home at Spruce Meadows, this has to be up there with one of the greatest victories we've had."
The historic victory is the first time a CPL team has defeated an MLS side and the first time an MLS club has been knocked out of the Canadian Championship over two legs by a non-MLS club.
The Cavalry entered the second leg owning a slight advantage having not conceded an away goal from the first leg, a 0-0 draw on July 10 at Spruce Meadows.
Brown ensured this would be no goalless encounter within the first 10 minutes.
The Arsenal FC academy product showcased a terrific left foot in taking a through ball from captain Nik Ledgerwood, evading centre backs Erik Godoy and Doneil Henry and lifting a sharp strike past Whitecaps goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau in the seventh minute.
"It's worth double, right?," Wheeldon Jr. said. "We knew Whitecaps as the home team had to come out and score because it's their surface so we knew with doing that they would play a high line and Nik is smart enough that as soon as he's got it he's put it in for Jordan Brown and my what a finish."
Owning the crucial away goal, the Whitecaps had to chase the result needing at least two goals to advance on aggregate and struggled to test the Cavalry despite owning a considerable edge in possession all evening.
"We talked about it in the locker-room that if we could come out strong in the first 10 minutes and weather the storm that might change the atmosphere of the crowd a little bit and not let the Whitecaps get into the game," Ledgerwood said. "It wasn't the loudest I've heard BC Place before and that's something you notice as a player and it kind of pushes you when you see the fans almost going against the home team at times.
"We did exceptional in the first 15, 20 minutes to get that early goal and kind of kill the atmosphere."
The Whitecaps wouldn't find the back of the net until the 67th minute. Hwang In-beom's shot at the top of the box was deflected in off Zator after attacker Theo Bair did great work to challenge the Cavalry backline.
Showing a resiliency that's been in its locker all season, the Cavalry were back in front within five minutes on the set-piece.
Jose Escalante feathered a perfect cross on the corner for Zator to meet with his head in the middle of the box, giving the Cavalry the 2-1 edge on aggregate in the 71st minute.
Needing to score twice in the final 20 minutes, the Whitecaps were held back and seem to run out of ideas offensively.
"I honestly believe the biggest difference between both teams tonight was that every player on our team believed that we could win the game," Ledgerwood said. "I don't think that was the case on the Whitecaps."
Elsewhere in the Canadian Championship, Montreal edged the CPL's York 9 1-0 to win the tie 3-2 on aggregate and the USL's Ottawa Fury slipped past Halifax's HFX Wanderers 5-4 in a roller-coaster two leg affair.
The Canadian Championship's fourth-round matchups will feature the Cavs taking on the Impact and Ottawa battling the defending champions Toronto FC.
"We will study them the same as we have with all of our CPL opponents and as we did with the Whitecaps," Wheeldon Jr said. "We look at everybody's strengths, where they're good, we try and nullify it and we try and expose any flaws that they have.
"Going into it, now the pressure is off, we're not expected to win, we're going on a Cinderella story and it's a great place to go."
Cavalry FC previously dispatched Pacific FC and Forge FC through the first two legs of the Championship before becoming the first CPL team to defeat an MLS side.
For more information go to cavalryfc.canpl.ca
