A draw rarely feels like a victory.
For Cavalry FC, this one came awfully close.
Owen Antoniuk’s stoppage-time equalizer rescued a 1-1 draw against Forge FC on Saturday at ATCO Field, preserving Cavalry’s four-point lead atop the Canadian Premier League and moving Calgary’s soccer team a step closer to capturing the CPL Shield.
The result moved Cavalry to 15-5-2 (wins-draws-losses) and 50 points through 22 matches. Forge sits second at 14-4-4 with 46 points. Both clubs have six games remaining, but the draw mattered because this was their final regular-season meeting.
A Forge victory would have cut Cavalry’s lead to one point. Instead, the Cavs denied their rivals two points, kept a result between them and the Hamilton club and emerged with control of the race.
“It’s not about securing a final at home,” Cavalry head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. said to reporters, when asked about the playoff championship. “It’s about the Shield. It’s been won by Forge for two years running, and now it’s time somebody else took it off them. That’s what we’re vying for, and everything else is secondary.”
Cavalry has a playoff berth. Winning the Shield would give the club the regular-season championship and a place in the 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup.
One point on Saturday pushed that prize closer.
It took until the final moments to secure it.
The two rivals cancelled each other out through a cagey first half. Each attempted five shots and produced just 0.16 expected goals before halftime, numbers that reflected how familiar Cavalry and Forge have become with one another.
“Anytime we play Forge, it’s a cagey matchup,” Cavalry midfielder Eryk Kobza said to reporters. “There’s not too much between the teams, so it’s the fine margins that decide the game. We started a little slow, but we did well to finish the first half, and then it was give and take in the second half.
“It’s an important result for us. We obviously wanted to win, but we’ll take the point.”
Cavalry goalkeeper Nathan Ingham kept the game scoreless near the hour mark when he denied Ismaël Koné Oketokoun from inside the six-yard box. Forge then turned to its bench, introducing Tristan Borges, Noah Jensen and Lucas Cavallini, who made his CPL debut.
The changes paid off in the 80th minute. Forge attacked down the right before the ball travelled across the area to an unmarked Jensen, who placed his first goal of the season inside the right post.
For 10 minutes, Cavalry’s Shield cushion was shrinking.
Then came the response.
Cavalry won a free kick in the attacking half as the match moved into stoppage time. Tobias Warschewski delivered the long ball toward Amer Didić, who stretched to knock it down and direct it across the goalmouth. Forge had nobody protecting the space, leaving Antoniuk with a tap-in to make it 1-1.
It was another decisive moment against Forge for the Calgary-born substitute. Antoniuk also scored the stoppage-time winner when the Hamilton club last visited ATCO Field in August.
“As we’ve seen with Owen Antoniuk, he’s deadly,” Wheeldon said. “When international duty or suspensions come up, it gives opportunities for others. You can’t keep them all happy, so now they have an opportunity to play, and to play at home is fantastic.”
The finish still carried more rivalry heat. Warschewski received his second yellow card after celebrating in front of the Forge bench, while Forge had a late Football Video Support challenge for a penalty denied.
When the whistle went, Cavalry had taken four of a possible six points from Forge’s two visits to Calgary and had protected the gap that matters most.
“I think Forge, the way they celebrated (after they scored), they thought they’d won it,” Wheeldon said. “It was good for us to get back out there and silence them a little bit and show them that we’re still after their trophy.”
The match also marked Kobza’s 100th appearance for Cavalry, a milestone reached during his fourth season.
“It’s crazy to say I’ve already played 100 games for the Cavs,” Kobza said. “Four years have flown by. There are a lot of great memories in the past, but we’re trying to write some new ones this year.
“We have a special group. Every year we challenge for titles, and that’s what this club is made of. We’re excited for the home stretch and will do everything we can to win.”
Cavalry hosts FC Supra du Québec next Friday. Five more matches follow after that.
Every point will matter. Saturday’s ensured Forge still has four more to make up on first-place Cavalry.
