Vancouver FC wins penalty shootout over Pacific FC in Canadian Championship play
LANGFORD – Goalkeeper Callum Irving's penalty shootout heroics helped Vancouver FC get past Pacific FC in an all-Canadian Premier League matchup in Telus Canadian Championship preliminary-round play Tuesday.
David Norman Jr. scored the decisive spot kick to give Vancouver a 4-2 win in the shootout after the game finished tied at 1-1 after regulation time.
Alejandro Díaz, Nicolas Mezquida and Aidan O'Connor also scored for Vancouver in the shootout. Pacific goalkeeper Max Anchor stopped Vasco Fry. Pacific FC's Dario Zanatta, right, tries to get past Vancouver FC's Aidan O'Connor during first half Canadian Championship preliminary round soccer action in Langford, B.C., on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
Aly Ndom and Sami Keshavarz scored for Pacific. Irving stopped Marco Bustos and Emanuel Montejano in the shootout.
Vancouver celebrated its first cup win, after losing by 1-0 scores in the preliminary-round at York United in 2023 and at Cavalry FC last year. Next up is a rematch with CPL champion Cavalry in the two-legged quarterfinal.
Pacific's Kadin Chung had a chance to win it in stoppage time but his shot went just wide.
Vancouver went ahead in the 34th minute via a Diaz penalty.
The play started with a giveaway by Ndom. The ball went to Fry who targeted Terran Campbell in the Pacific penalty box with defender Eric Lajeunesse pulling the Vancouver striker down.
Vancouver outshot Pacific 4-2 (1-1 in shots on target) in the first half. Pacific had 57 per cent possession.
Ndom made amends in the 50th minute, scoring on a free kick from just outside the box. His low shot made it through the Vancouver wall, finding a gap between Kunle Dada-Luke and Mehdi Essoussi, catching Irving off-guard.
Mattias Vales, a 17-year-old midfielder, came on for Pacific at halftime. The teenager, a product of the Vancouver Island (VI) Wave Program and a student at The Football Academy at Shawnigan Lake, signed a second CPL developmental contract in March.
In the earlier cup game Tuesday, York United FC blanked Ligue1 Quebec champion FC Laval 5-0 at York Lions Stadium.
On Wednesday, it's Halifax Wanderers at Forge in another CPL showdown in Hamilton, and League1 B.C.'s TSS Rovers visit Winnipeg's Valour FC.
Four teams had already made it to the two-legged quarterfinals, including the MLS-leading Vancouver Whitecaps who received a bye into the final eight as defending champion.
Vancouver and Pacific drew 1-1 when they met in league play April 26 in Langley with Ndom scoring the tying goal for Pacific in the 70th minute. Mezquida, a former Whitecap, had given Vancouver the lead in the 17th minute.
The rivalry between the two was shown by the game's seven yellow cards and one red.
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Referee Michael Venne handed out six cautions Tuesday, three to each side.
Vancouver (1-2-2) is fourth in the CPL standings, three places but just one point ahead of Pacific (1-3-1). It is unbeaten in its last three outings (1-0-2) since dropping its first two games of the campaign (against York and Ottawa).
Pacific (1-3-1) has not won since the season-opening 2-0 win over visiting Valour.
The Canadian Championship winner hoists the Voyageurs Cup and wins $50,000 and a berth in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the elite club competition in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2025.
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