CALGARY — Cavalry FC may be the pursuer in the Canadian Premier League championship, but the Calgary soccer club remains confident in its bid to claim league's inaugural title at their home pitch.
Cavalry (11-5-2) finished atop the CPL table in both the spring and fall campaigns.
The league's top-scoring club was held to just three shots, however, by Hamilton Forge (11-4-3) in a 1-0 loss in the first leg at Tim Hortons Field.
Calgary will host the final CPL match of the season Saturday afternoon at Spruce Meadow's ATCO Field where the North Star Shield will be hoisted for the first time.
Cavalry is dominant at home at 7-2. One loss, however, was a 1-0 decision to the Forge on June 22.
Calgary has scored a league-leading 20 of its 35 goals at home.
"The last five games at home we've won quite comfortably," Cavalry head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. said. "Forge's last five games on the road, it's not so."
"It's a different ball game coming home here and when the fans are behind us making it loud, it's an intimidating atmosphere."
But with zero away goals, Cavalry must win by two goals or more, or win 1-0 to put the series to penalties. Forge claims the crown with a draw or a win, or any one-goal defeat in which they score.
"We want to win the game and to win the game we have to score a goal," Forge coach Bob Smyrniotis said.
"That's the way we look at it. Not so much about what a goal means, what an away goal means and all this other stuff. You can get caught up in too much mathematics.
"Two weeks after this, everyone will remember who lifted the trophy and not so much what really happened in the game, so the most important thing is we come out of tomorrow with the result we need to be a champion."
Calgary will be shorthanded without defender Joel Waterman, who along with Forge midfielder and CPL leading scorer Tristan Borges were shown red cards in Leg 1.
Canada Soccer's disciplinary committee subsequently rescinded Borges' suspension, but not Waterman's given in the 37th minute for a handball in Calgary's box.
"We planned for him as soon as we knew they were putting in an appeal," Wheeldon Jr., said of Borges.
"He's never scored here. He's a very good player. Let me make that clear. Now we know he's starting. Makes our job easier because now we know to prevent."
Borges scored the lone goal in Hamilton in the first half. He was sent off in the second for kicking out at Cavalry's Jay Wheeldon when the two tangled.
"If any of us on the team were in the situation where we played a man up for 45 minutes and we only won one nothing and we had to go away, I think we'd be really upset with ourselves," Ledgerwood said.
"We'd be really disappointed and frustrated. Now Forge has to come here and do something. If anything, it's just firing us up a little bit more."
The second leg's key battle is projected to be in the wings, where Cavalry FC's Nico Pasquotti and Jose Escalante traditionally dominate.
The Forge negated that advantage in the opener, however, and forced Calgary's attack to the middle. Hamilton will have to contend with Calgary's narrower, frostier pitch Saturday.
"It's definitely a different field in what you would be used to and what you'd want to play on, especially in a final match," Smyrniotis said.
"That's nothing we can control. Both teams are going to have to go out there and deal with the conditions. It's a bumpy pitch. It's very hard at the moment. That's going to make certain things difficult on the field. All it's going to need is more concentration."
Hamilton will also have to adapt to Calgary's elevation, which is the highest of all CPL cities at 1,050 metres, and cold, dry air.
"We've scored goals in bunches in the last 15 minutes of games and it's not a coincidence," Ledgerwood said. "We train here at high altitude, it's dry, the conditions definitely favour us.
"As an away team that's not used to it, it's hard to play. If we can get on the front foot and be aggressive and play to our strengths, I think the last 15 minutes will definitely favour us."
Saturday's forecast is mostly cloudy and a high of seven degrees, with winds out of the west ranging from 14 to 21 km/h.
Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press
