Calgary club gets road win over desperate Valour FC on strength of striker’s 11th and 12th goals of soccer season
Tobias Warschewski and Cavalry FC seized a golden opportunity for a grand finish to the Canadian Premier League regular season Saturday.
On the strength of his 11th and 12th goals of the campaign, the brilliant striker lifted himself to the league’s goal-scoring title — the Golden Boot Award — and his club to second place and home-field advantage for next weekend’s playoff contest.
“All the credit goes to Toby,” said Cavalry captain and goalkeeper Marco Carducci after the 2-1 win over host Valour FC in Winnipeg. “We knew he was in contention for the Golden Boot as we went into this game, and credit to him, that’s an incredible achievement.
“And when we needed him to be clinical, he was,” Carducci said. “That just shows the character of this team to really handle guys and take one step up, and I give full credit to Toby for coming in big for us this game, getting the two goals that we needed to win this game and getting those two goals to get the Golden Boot.”
With the win, Calvary finishes second in the CPL and will play host Forge FC in the 1/2 game in Hamilton next Sunday (2 p.m.).
The winner then advances to host the league final, while the loser drops into the semifinal for a second chance at reaching the championship match.
“This is an opportunity for us,” said Calvary head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. “We’ve had to climb the table to be where we are. We’re told very famously that it’s not how you start the race, it’s how you finish it. We’re coming into the sprint, and we’re starting to look like a team that can take on anybody. So we’ve been the best team on the road.
“So now it’s a great opportunity to put that to work against the best team in the regular season.”
The Cavs finish 2024 with a 12W-12D-4L record for 48 points — second only to Forge, the regular-season champions with 50 points after a 15-5-8 mark on the year.
Meanwhile, Valour needed the win to remain eligible for the playoffs, although even with it, the Winnipeg club still wouldn’t have made the post-season since Pacific FC secured the fifth-and-final spot with a simultaneous victory Saturday. Pacific edged visiting Forge 1-0 in Langford, B.C., to run its record to 9-7-12 for 34 points.
In between the top-two finishers and Pacific, Atlético Ottawa — at 11-11-6 — finishes in third and York United FC — at 11-6-11 — earned the fourth playoff slot. York hosts Pacific in Wednesday’s 4/5 game (5:30 p.m.), with the winner advancing to play host Ottawa on Sunday (11 a.m.).
But it’s the end of the road in 2024 for HFX Wanderers FC — at 7-9-12 — Vancouver FC — at 7-9-12 — and Valour — at 7-7-14.
It did look good for Valour early on Saturday before 2,244 fans at Princess Auto Stadium.
Home-side forward Abdul Binate opened the scoring in the 26th minute to beat Carducci.
“Obviously, it didn’t start the way you would have liked, obviously going down early,” said the Cavalry keeper. “We knew this game was going to play like a playoff game. Valour had everything to play for at the beginning. I think it just showed the resiliency of this team. Going into the half a goal down and knowing that a win for us was important, so credit to the guys for showing that resiliency and coming back and win from a losing position.”
They can thank the golden boot of Warshewski for that, as he scored both of his markers in the second half. His first to beat Valour goalkeeper Jonathan Viscosi came from in front to equalize the match at 1-1 in the 57th minute.
Then he scored his second goal on a penalty kick in the 89th minute.
With that, Warschewski wrapped up the Golden Boot after what was a competitive race for the CPL scoring title. He beat out Ottawa’s Ruben del Campo (11 goals), Vancouver FC’s Alejandro Díaz (10) and York United’s Brian Wright (nine) for the award.
The German striker becomes the second Cavs player to nab the award in as many years, after Myer Bevan earned a share of the Golden Boot winner with Ottawa midfielder Ollie Bassett in 2023.
Warschewski returned to the CPL in January 2024, having previously represented FC Edmonton during the league’s 2021 and ’22 seasons. It took him until May 3, 2024, to nab his first goals of the season — a pair against Vancouver — but he continued scoring consistently throughout the year on his way to his best single-season goal-scoring tally in his three years in the league.
His achievement will be recognized at the CPL’s annual end-of-year awards ceremony, which will be held on Thursday, Nov. 7, in either Hamilton or Calgary, depending on where the 2024 CPL Final is held. There, Warschewski will be presented with a unique piece of Inuit soapstone art, conceived by artist Kellipalik Etidloie and carved by artist Ruben Komangapik. The Hunter is awarded annually to the league’s top goal-getter, as hunters — like true goal scorers — are courageous, fearless in the pursuit, versatile and adaptive no matter the conditions.