For a third straight season, Cavalry FC have qualified for the CPL Final, as the defending North Star Cup winners are getting set for a date vs. Atlético Ottawa at TD Place on Sunday, Nov. 9 (5 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT).
After defeating York United 4-1 in the Semifinal Qualifier, Cavalry followed that up with an impressive 1-0 win vs. CPL Shield winners Forge in the Contender Semifinal, setting up this matchup against Ottawa.
Now, they’re looking to finish the job in the Final, as they look to successfully defend their North Star Cup crown in enemy territory.
They’ll be in tough against an Ottawa side that hasn’t lost at home all year in all competitions, but Cavalry will look to use their vast experience to overcome that challenge, as they look to add another trophy to their cabinet.
Here are three reasons why they could get the job done in this Final.
1. They’re the defending North Star Cup champions
Sometimes, it can’t be understated how important it is to have accumulated as much big-game experience as Cavalry has, especially when it comes to what they accomplished last year, when they finally lifted their first North Star Cup.
Not only did they claim that trophy with an emphatic 2-1 win vs. Forge at ATCO Field, but they did so off one of the most impressive playoff runs in league history, one that saw them defeat four-time North Star Cup winners Forge in both the Championship Semifinal and final to lift the crown in front of their fans (becoming the first team to win a CPL Final at home in the process).
After losing their previous two CPL Finals to that same Forge team, including a heartbreaker in 2023, it was a big statement of intent from Cavalry, showing that they had finally found a way to turn past playoff heartbreak into a key motivating factor.
Certainly, that experience has paid off for them in these playoffs, as they became the first team outside the top two to reach the final in this current playoff format, which debuted in 2023.
When seeing the way they brushed past Forge in that 1-0 Contender Semifinal win, denying their rivals their seventh straight CPL Final appearance with a gutsy road victory, it feels like they fear nobody right now, and why should they? They’re the defending champions, after all.
2. Tobias Warschewski is an all-time playoff performer
When it comes to this time of the year, it helps to have players who know how to rise to the occasion, and in Tobias Warschewski, Cavalry might have the premium Canadian Premier League clutch performer.
Even though he didn’t make his playoff debut until last year, he’s quickly proved that he’s more than capable of raising his level in big games.
It started with his performances last year, as he scored a goal apiece in each of Cavalry’s wins over Forge, even becoming the CPL’s first-ever Final MVP along the way.
Then, so far this year, he opened the playoffs with a brace in the win against York United, before scoring the lone goal in the win vs. Forge, which now gives him an impressive five goals and one assist in four playoff games.
What’s scariest about those numbers, too, is that they don’t even paint the full picture of his dominance. It’s not as if he’s scored five empty net tap-ins where he was in the right place and right time - instead, he’s proven to be a one-man wrecking crew intent on willing his team to victory.
Other than the penalty he dispatched during last year’s CPL Final, his playoff goal catalogue is quite impressive - he scored a great breakaway in last year’s Championship Semifinal vs. Forge, had an impressive outside-the-boot finish and goal from distance in the Semifinal Qualifier vs. York this year, and then added a deft chip in the Contender Semifinal vs. Forge last week.
Yet, that’s the challenge that teams face when Warschewski is in the sort of form he currently finds himself in - it’s so hard to stop him, as he can hurt you in so many ways.
Especially now that Cavalry have found a formula that allows Warschewski even more freedom to do what he does best in the attack, thanks to the insertion of Caniggia Elva as a striker, the Warschewski conundrum seems harder to solve than ever for opposing defenders.
3. They’ve finally found a defensive balance
It’s been a strange year for Cavalry, who dropped out of the top two for the first time since 2022 (and even in 2022, they tied for second-place, falling to third on a tiebreaker), as they’ve been unable to operate at their usual standard in most games.
A big reason for that, however, was their struggles defensively, as they conceded 36 goals, which was fourth among playoff teams.
For a team that usually thrives in that area of their game, it was a big surprise to see them struggle in that regard, although it’s worth noting that the departure of two-time CPL Defender of the Year Daan Klomp last winter played a big role in those struggles.
Well, with Klomp now back in the fold after rejoining the side this summer, it feels like Cavalry has returned to usual service defensively, and their play in the playoffs speaks for itself, as they’ve conceded just one goal in two games - a big improvement on the nine goals they conceded in their last four games leading into the playoffs, in particular.
Plus, it’s not as if they’re riding an incredible streak of luck defensively, either, as they held York United to just 1.28 xG, and then followed that up by holding Forge, who led the league in xG in the regular season, to just 0.82 xG.
What that shows, though, is that they’ve committed to refining their defensive game, and that’s led to these much-improved performances on that side of their play.
For what it’s worth, they actually had excellent underlying numbers during the regular season, as they conceded a league-low 28.51 xG in 28 games, so this run of form isn’t out of the ordinary - what has been new, however, has been the way they’ve tightened up and limited the sort of mistakes that had hurt them throughout the season.
Heading into a matchup against a high-octane Atlético Ottawa side, they’ll need their defensive game to be spot-on (their last visit to TD Place saw them suffer a 3-0 defeat), so this turnaround couldn’t come at a better time for them, either.
Ultimately, as the saying goes, defence wins championships, and Cavalry have certainly been defending at a standard that gives them a chance to win a second straight North Star Cup.
