From the first month of the season, it was abundantly clear that this year's Atlético Ottawa team was different.
Going unbeaten in April, Atleti scored 12 goals in four games, quickly rising to the top of the CPL table while playing an electrifying brand of attacking football under new head coach Diego Mejía.
Their first match of May, however, brought with it the first significant adversity of the campaign. A half hour into their May 3 match against Pacific FC at TD Place, 30-year-old central defender Amer Didić, one of the league's best, suffered a fracture in his right leg.
"It was a huge blow to us as a team," said Atlético Ottawa defender Loïc Cloutier.
Suddenly, Cloutier, who had just turned 21 a few days prior and was in his first professional season, looked to his right and saw Noah Abatneh (then 20) and Tyr Duhaney-Walker (then 21). Sergei Kozlovskiy, who ended up playing the third-most minutes of any Atlético Ottawa central defender this season, was just 16 at the time.
In that moment, the group of young defenders were thrown into the fire. With the help of an incredibly tight-knit team and a coach who wasn't afraid to let them make mistakes while learning on the job, they forged themselves into one of the league's best defensive units.
"We had to step up, and I think that helped us in developing and getting better so much quicker, because you don't have those experienced guys to help you necessarily in the game," said Cloutier. "So I think it helped us grow so much quicker."
For as important as Atlético Ottawa's league-record 54 goals were to their success this season, the 11 clean sheets and just 28 goals allowed in 28 regular-season matches were critical.
It has led them here, to the last game of the season, at their home grounds of TD Place in the 2025 CPL Final against Cavalry FC (5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT on OneSoccer, TSN3). Now this Atlético Ottawa team and their young backline are looking to prove that they can win when it matters most.
"We know we've been so good, whether it's in the league or the CanChamp, but it feels like the last hurdle, we couldn't get over it," said Cloutier, "whether it's the [CanChamp] semifinal against Vancouver, or we were just a couple of points behind Forge. So I think this final will be showing the league, showing everyone, that we can get over the last hurdle, and get it done."
That hurdle will be a challenging one to clear. Cavalry, the defending CPL champions, are led by the most prolific goalscorer in CPL playoff history, Tobias Warschewski. They have a cast of other lethal attackers, including Ali Musse, who are among the league's best.
"It's a big test," said Abatneh. "Because obviously, Cavalry are used to playing games like this, they have a very good squad. They have very good players, coached well, So, it's going to be a very tough game."
The most experienced of Atleti's central defenders, which now includes 20-year-old loanee Roni Mbomio, Abatneh became the backline's leader. With 63 Canadian Premier League games under his belt, Abatneh's calm presence at the back, coupled with an elite-level ability on the ball, earned him a nomination for the Canadian Premier League's Defender of the Year and a second consecutive nomination for Best Canadian U-21 Player of the Year.
But even he hasn't been immune to the growing pains of being a young central defender. In the 23rd minute of the Championship Semifinal against Forge, Abatneh and goalkeeper Nathan Ingham had a miscommunication in the box, which allowed Forge's David Choinière to open the scoring.
As part of a culture in Ottawa where those kinds of learning moments are seen as opportunities for improvement versus admonishment, Abatneh and Ingham got up, dusted off the Hamilton Stadium turf, and proceeded to help Atleti become the first team in CPL history to come from behind to win a match in Hamilton against Forge. Their 2-1 victory on the day earned them a spot in, and allowed them to host, the 2025 CPL Final.
"I think it's normal for any defender, including a goalkeeper, to make mistakes during a season, and especially for a young backline," said Abatneh. "But I think Diego [Mejía], he gives us the freedom to express ourselves on the field. Even if we make a mistake, as long as we're trying to do the right thing and play in his way, he lets us do that.
"I think it's just the confidence that we have, that even if we make a mistake, we know that we're still good enough to be at this level and push for a championship. So we don't really let it get to our heads."
Crucial to the backline's success all season as well has been the safety net behind them. Or, better put, the safety in net that veteran goalkeeper Ingham provides. The 32-year-old made 80 saves this season, the second-most of any goalkeeper in the league and consistently made the kind of saves that meant the young defenders could make mistakes that didn't always cost them.
"Nate has been so good, saving us and especially at the start of the season, when defensively we weren't maybe as good as we are now. And he saved us so many times with saves and he's even very good with his feet and playing at the back. So having a keeper like that behind us, it's so huge for us, especially in the big games like this weekend."
It also gave Ottawa's backline time to gel and adjust to their new environment. After conceding 15 goals in their first 9 matches of the season in CPL, they conceded just 13 in their remaining 19 matches, keeping clean sheets in 11 of those matches.
"I'm proud of the whole backline," said Abatneh. "Because we're all young players. It's some of our first seasons playing professionally, or not a lot of experience. So it's amazing, the work that we've done to be able to reach the final."
Now that they are here, however, there are no moral victories. Despite a historic season in so many ways, and being so early in their respective careers, they know that appearing in finals is far from a given. Some players go their entire careers without that chance. They want to make sure this incredible opportunity isn't missed.
"We wanted this, we wanted to bring it home, we wanted to be here in the last game of the season," said Cloutier. "We talked about it at the start of the season, the coach said it, to be able to play in the last game of the season. Now, we've just got to get through that last hurdle."
