It was a long time coming.
Tuesday, for the first time ever, Vancouver FC got past the opening game in the Canadian Championship, as they defeated Salish Sea Derby rivals Pacific FC 4-2 on penalties (1-1 in regular time) in a preliminary round clash at Starlight Stadium.
Previously, Eagles fell1-0 to York United in the 2023 preliminary round and 1-0 to Cavalry FC in the 2024 preliminary round.
This time out, VFC opened the scoring in the first half before Pacific responded with a second half equalizer.
Goalkeeper Callum Irving, who was named player of the match, kept the Eagles in the game by making two key saves, which set up David Norman Jr. to score the winning goal for Vancouver in the fifth round.
Lukas Browning Lagerfeldt nearly opened the scoring for Pacific in the 14th minute, as he fired a shot from long range after settling a pass from Marco Bustos, but his shot curled just past the post. Then, a few minutes later, Bustos had a great chance of his own, as he got open for a shot in the box after a nice backheel pass from Aidan Daniels, but his shot would be easily saved by Vancouver's Callum Irving.
At the other end, Vancouver had their first good opportunity of the game in the 21st minute. After a great cross from Terran Campbell, Alejandro D铆az rose highest to meet it, with his goalbound header only finding itself denied by a fantastic block from Pacific's Aly Ndom.
Soon after, Vancouver would find a breakthrough in the 34th minute.
Following a dangerous cross into the box from Vasco Fry, Eric Lajeunesse fouled Terran Campbell right as he met the ball, leading to a penalty. From there, D铆az stepped up to take, and he'd make no mistake with his finish, slotting the ball to the left of Pacific's goalkeeper, Max Anchor, who had stepped the wrong way before D铆az's shot.
On the other side of half time, Pacific would do well to respond to going down a goal, as they injected new life into the game after making a triple substitution at half time. They wouldn't have to wait long to find an equalizer, either - after Mattias Vales won a free kick at the edge of the box in the 50th minute, Aly Ndom stepped up to take it, sneaking a low shot through Vancouver's wall and into the bottom corner to make it 1-1.
Vancouver had another great chance in the 67th minute, and it came from D铆az yet again. Continuing a strong performance, he got on the end of a perfect ball into the box from David Norman Jr., and he caught it well in the header, only finding himself denied by a flying stop from Anchor.
SHOOTOUT WIN 馃槑 defeat on penalties, with David Norman Jr. burying the final effort to secure his side's 1st-ever TELUS result 馃嚚馃嚘
鈥� OneSoccer (@onesoccer)
Wanting to end the game before it reached penalties, Pacific almost found a 92nd-minute winner, as the ball fell to Kadin Chung in the box, but he flashed his half-volley just wide of the goal.
Other than that, however, there'd be no other late chances, leaving this game to go to penalties. Something that Vancouver had never done, and Pacific had done in each of their past three Canadian Championship campaigns, it marked a fittingly dramatic conclusion to a tightly-contested match.
Vancouver converted four of their five penalties, including the winner from David Norman Jr., whereas Pacific had two of their four stopped, with Marco Bustos and Emmanuel Montejano finding themselves denied by Irving with their respective attempts, allowing the visitors to snatch a result and move onto the next round.
Vancouver have advanced to the quarter-finals of the Canadian Championship, where they'll face Cavalry FC in a two-legged aggregate series that will kick off the week of May 20th, with Vancouver hosting the first leg and Cavalry the second leg.
They'll be back in action on Saturday, May 17th, when they host the Halifax Wanderers at Willoughby Community Park at 5 p.m.
