Final Score: Halifax Wanderers FC 2-2 York United FC (4-5 pens.)
Goalscorers: Coimbra 45+1', Gagnon-Laparé 114'; Altobelli 86', Hundal 118'
2025 CPL Playoffs
Knockout Match
Match in a minute or less
This one might need more than a minute.
York United's CPL Playoff journey will continue into the semifinal qualifier, after they defeated the Halifax Wanderers in a penalty shootout after a tumultuous contest under the lights on Wednesday night.
Halifax took the lead midway through the first half, when striker Tiago Coimbra placed a wonderful header ito the corner of the goal off a perfect Sean Rea cross. The home side held onto that lead for a while, almost seeing it all the way through, until York's own star striker Julian Altobelli found the space to fire home an equalizer with only four minutes left of the 90.
Proceeding to extra time, the two sides traded jabs for a while until, with only 10 minutes to play, lightning struck — literally. The players were sent to the dressing rooms for a weather delay that lasted about 20 minutes, but the brief respite seemed to give them an extra dash of energy.
Just moments after the match resumed, Halifax sent their fans into ecstasy as Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé redirected a free kick from Wes Timoteo into the net, but York still weren't done. Four minutes later, Shaan Hundal scored the equalizer from a scramble in front of goal, and the match proceeded to a penalty shootout.
Lorenzo Callegari put his penalty wide to give York an early advantage, but later Rayane Yesli managed to stop Steffen Yeates' effort to even it up. The final stanza, however, would again involve Gagnon-Laparé, who skied his penalty over the bar, and York United were victorious.
The Nine Stripes head now to Sunday's semifinal qualifier against third-place Cavalry FC, and they're two more wins away from the CPL Final. Meanwhile, the Wanderers' season has now come to an end.
Three Observations
Madness at the Wanderers Grounds ends in York triumph, Halifax heartbreak
For an opening act in the 2025 Canadian Premier League Playoffs, it's hard to get any better than this.
"A game of two halves" is a common cliche, but this wasn't that. It was more a game of four halves.
There aren't many things that didn't happen in this game. It had timely goals from star players, a late equalizer, unlikely heroics in extra time, another late equalizer, and it all ended in a particularly dramatic penalty shootout.
That's before even mentioning the brutal physicality, the raucous playoff atmosphere, the torrential rain, or the bizarre 20-minute weather delay in the middle of extra time.
"These are the situations that aren't in those textbooks, right?" said York United head coach Mauro Eustáquio postmatch. "There's no course in the world that's going to tell you you're going to have breaks with thunderstorms, and you've got to be a little bit creative and make sure that the players are relaxed, but they're still connected to the game."
Documenting all the various twists and turns of this game in detail would take quite a while, but both sides had some tremendous moments that will stick with them — although for Halifax, they may not be fond memories.
Still, football is such a cruel game that had things turned out just slightly different, the Wanderers would've had some of the most special moments in club history. Tiago Coimbra, who isn't fully healthy and missed five games in a row before getting back for the final two, had his star moment in the first half.
Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé, who had played just 70 minutes in six appearances this season, was about to be an unlikely hero, after scoring what could've been the winner, were it not for Shaan Hundal and York four minutes later.
It was not to be Halifax's fairytale, though. In fact, Gagnon-Laparé's lasting imprint on the match will, unfortunately, be his missed penalty that clinched it for York.
The Wanderers fans leaving the Grounds on Wednesday night will do so with broken hearts. But for a neutral, this match was pure theatre. It had great goals, ugly goals, drama at both ends, and pretty much everything in between.
The CPL is getting pretty good at this playoff drama thing. In fact, three playoff matches in the league's history have gone to extra time (this, the 2023 CPL Final, and last year between Atlético Ottawa and York), each of them has seen both teams score in the added frame.
Four matches remain in the 2025 CPL Playoffs. They won't all be quite like this, but after that appetizer, it's hard not to be hungry for more knockout football.
No-quit Nine Stripes get up off the mat twice for resilient double-comeback
Three hundred and sixty days ago, York United FC lost a playoff match on penalties.
Much like on this occasion, they had to come from behind twice in that semifinal qualifier against Atlético Ottawa. Shola Jimoh scored a 94th-minute equalizer to send them beyond the 90 minutes, and Mo Babouli levelled it again within extra time just two minutes after conceding. However, that time they lost the shootout.
Fast forward to this year, with Mauro Eustáquio now as head coach after watching the last playoff campaign as an assistant, and this York team looks like it'll be an incredibly tough out in the playoffs.
In the first seven games of the 2025 season, York United dropped 14 points from winning positions. They were repeatedly scoring first, then allowing opponents back into the match late in the game.
The York team we're seeing in October feels much different to that side. Since May, they've only failed once to win a game where they led, and instead they've managed to gain nine points from losing positions.
Eustáquio has seen his team become much more mature and composed over the past few months, to this point now where they can dust themselves off with moments to spare twice in a playoff game.
Asked about the evolution he's seen, Eustáquio attributed it to the collective commitment to the cause; his regular starters are happy to be on the bench if needed, and the usual subs are ready if their name is called to start. He singled out Riley Ferrazzo (a former Wanderer), who started against Forge last Saturday but before that hadn't started since July 26. Likewise, Shaan Hundal doesn't necessarily start much, but he played all 120 minutes of this one, scoring the extra time equalizer as well as his penalty in the shootout.
"With my team, I felt the click that no one is more important than the player beside him," Eustáquio said. "We put it in our heads that if we're going to do something special in this playoffs, it's going to be together. I think we showed today that any player on my team can start, and any player on my team can come off the bench and make a difference."
Plus, York got some massive performances from their biggest stars right when they needed them. Julian Altobelli was excellent; like Hundal, he played all 120 minutes, scored an equalizer, and found the net with his penalty. Frank Sturing, likewise, was immense at centre-back, with his eight duels won and jaw-dropping 20 clearances (he said he was up next for a spot kick if Gagnon-Laparé hadn't missed).
All that being said, Eustáquio himself also deserves a lot of credit for how he managed this game. His team was largely outplayed by Halifax in the first half, and much of the second. When he turned to his bench, he did so with purpose, and he didn't wait around.
Eustáquio made two changes with 35 minutes left, bringing on both Shola Jimoh and Massimo Ferrin to give his team much more attacking width after a fairly narrow system before. Not long after, with desperation setting in, he added Gabriel Bitar to the attack, dropping Jimoh from the wing to left-back, while taking Elijah Adekugbe out of the match and instructing Max Ferrari to play centre-back for possibly the first time in his career.
In the end, it was Jimoh who provided the assist for Altobelli's goal, after some dangerous balls by Ferrari and Bitar got the ball in that area. Jimoh also delivered the free kick that ultimately led to Hundal's goal.
This York team is resilient, gritty, and fairly nasty to play against. Lost in the scramble of this match will be how physical York were; they committed 23 fouls and saw six yellow cards, but generally sought to disrupt any possession play from the Wanderers by marking them aggressively.
"I came to this game to win," Eustáquio said. "Even though we finished in fifth, I didn't find excuses. We're going to Calgary to win, and we won't find excuses. I don't care if it's the flight, if it's the rain, if it's the field, the boys are ready. They showed they're ready. I would say we're past being hungry. I think I have a group of players that are starving now."
It's a tough trip to Calgary now, but after coming through this maelstrom intact, York feel ready to conquer the world.
Disappointment for Halifax as bright season comes to an end in crushing fashion
Halifax Wanderers fans had waited a while for the CPL Playoffs to return to Nova Scotia, after missing out last season.
This, however, was not the triumphant return they wanted it to be. The club is still searching for its first ever home playoff win, after a loss to Pacific FC two years ago and now this devastating defeat.
"The fans should be disappointed in us. I think so, because they deserve better," said Wanderers captain Andre Rampersad postmatch.
That said, Rampersad couldn't fault the effort from his teammates. Indeed, they out-possessed, out-shot, and out-duelled York, but at the end of the day they're still the team going home.
"I think they gave everything," he said. "On the night, if you look at every stat, we were the better team. But in the end, that's football. It's cruel sometimes."
A few moments may have been turning points in this game, and though hindsight is always 20/20, a couple of decisions might stick with Patrice Gheisar moving forward.
He chose to remove Sean Rea, undeniably the best player on the pitch in this game, in the 80th minute in favour of Rampersad, swapping Rea's attacking creativity for Rampersad's more defensive skillset with a 1-0 lead. It's impossible to say whether that changed the game enough to facilitate York's first comeback, but not having Rea on the pitch in extra time was a huge blow to Halifax, who had been controlling the game very well earlier. Rea had created seven chances, won seven duels, drawn four fouls and made six recoveries. At the very least, he likely would have been high on the list of penalty takers.
Early in extra time, Gheisar took off Adam Pearlman in favour of Gagnon-Laparé. Although Gagnon-Laparé did have his heroic moment with the goal (and he had almost scored shortly before that, too, with a screamer that Diego Urtiaga just tipped over the bar), Pearlman's absence was felt. His defensive awareness and positional ability make him excellent at defending set-pieces, and his presence on the right side may have allowed Halifax to clear the ball before Hundal's goal.
All that said, it's impossible to look back at hypotheticals.
In the end, this season was an improvement for Halifax, who got back to the playoffs and finished three points back of third. However, they still leave with a sour taste in their mouths, having failed again to give their home fans the win they've been craving.
"Heartbroken is one way to say it, I felt we did so much," Gheisar said. "But for me to say I'm heartbroken, I also think is extremely selfish, because what I have to think about is the team, and they did so well. My immediate thought is the appreciation of them coming back to put in this kind of shift today, on a short week. I thought we were really good — our running, our focus — and we were unlucky.
"But it's the sport that we love, it breaks your heart and tears you to pieces; the next day, it picks you up and gives you the love back."
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Frank Sturing, York United
Sturing finished the match wearing the captain's armband for York, and rightly so as he was excellent across the 120 minutes. He won eight out of 14 duels, with a team-high 75 touches. He made a whopping 20 clearances, and his experience and leadership were crucial to York being able to come back after falling behind in extra time.
What’s next?
York United advance to the next round of the playoffs, and will travel to Alberta to take on Cavalry FC in the semifinal qualifier this Sunday, Oct. 26 at ATCO Field (6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT).
Watch all of the CPL Playoffs live on OneSoccer and TSN. In addition to its website and app, OneSoccer is now available on TELUS channel 980 and on Fubo TV. Call your local cable provider to ask for OneSoccer today.