Cavalry FC wanted control of the Canadian Premier League Shield race. After one windy, frantic afternoon at ATCO Field, the Calgary club still has it.
Cavalry answered an early deficit, scored four times and defeated Pacific FC 4-2 on Saturday, snapping a three-match winless run and preserving first place entering the final weekend of the regular season.
The result left Cavalry and Forge FC tied on 57 points. They are also level on wins and head-to-head results, pushing the race to goal difference, where Cavalry holds a seven-goal advantage. Beat Vancouver FC at home Sunday and the Cavs will secure the Shield and top playoff seed unless Forge somehow erases that margin against Pacific.
After the three-game slide, it was not a gentle return to winning form for Cavalry.
Pacific struck in the ninth minute when 18-year-old Mattias Vales reached Marco Bustos’s cross and finished through goalkeeper Nathan Ingham’s legs for his first professional goal. It was the third consecutive match in which Cavalry conceded inside the opening 10 minutes.
This time, the response was immediate.
Bradley Kamdem Fewo delivered a cross for Daan Klomp, whose 12th-minute header brought Cavalry level. Five minutes later, Tobias Warschewski converted from the penalty spot to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead before Pacific had time to settle.
The match twisted again near halftime. Adam Pearlman’s attempted clearance caught Vales, giving Pacific a penalty that Bustos converted in the 44th minute. Once more, Cavalry refused to let the setback linger. In first-half stoppage time, Kamdem Fewo forced home a loose ball following a corner to restore the lead at 3-2.
“The conditions weren’t easy, I think, for both teams, so it was a little bit stop-start for some periods of the game,” Kamdem Fewo said to reporters. “But still, I think the boys fought through and were able to get the win, so obviously very happy with that.”
Cavalry supplied the final goal six minutes after halftime. Juan Quintana brought down Warschewski inside the area, and Ali Musse converted the match’s third penalty to create the first two-goal cushion of the afternoon.
From there, Cavalry managed the lead. Pacific threatened in transition during the final 15 minutes but could not reopen the contest. Kamdem Fewo, who created Klomp’s equalizer and scored the go-ahead goal, was named CanPL.ca’s player of the match.
The six-goal afternoon also carried a piece of league history. Cavalry’s second goal was its 55th of the campaign, breaking Atlético Ottawa’s 2025 record for goals by a team in one CPL regular season. The Cavs finished the day with 57 and still have one match remaining.
“We have so much quality up top, I think it’s ridiculous,” Kamdem Fewo said. “And then when we also have players that can contribute from the back, I think it’s a big team achievement.”
Klomp’s contribution underlined the point. Wheeldon said the centre-back added to his own league scoring record for a defender, while a fullback helped create one goal and score another.
Head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. was pleased with how quickly his side recovered from Vales’s opener.
“The early goal woke us up,” Wheeldon said to reporters. “I thought we responded brilliantly.”
For Wheeldon, the record matters because of what it could produce.
“I think we’ve scored more goals than any other team in the league’s history,” he said. “So if we keep doing that, we’ll get ourselves some silverware.”
The chance arrives Sunday at ATCO Field, with every club playing simultaneously on the final day.
The victory did not settle the Shield race because Forge also won Saturday. It did, however, leave Cavalry needing no favours if it handles Vancouver and protects its substantial goal-difference edge.
That will come with pressure from both ends of the table. Cavalry is chasing silverware and the playoff advantage that accompanies first place. Vancouver occupies the final playoff position and needs a result to hold off FC Supra du Québec.
Cavalry’s attacking record makes it the favourite, but Saturday offered both encouragement and warning. The Cavs showed they can produce goals from every line and answer adversity almost immediately. They also conceded first for a third straight outing and needed two penalties during the comeback.
One more victory would make those concerns secondary. After surviving Pacific’s early punch and the afternoon’s repeated swings, Cavalry reaches the final weekend where it wanted to be: at home, in first place and with the Shield still in its own hands.
