It had to happen sometime. It took six games, after a Canadian Premier League record five clean sheets, but Pacific FC finally allowed a goal. It was consequential, and enough to give Atlético Ottawa a 1-0 victory, and undisputed possession of first place atop the table.
Former Swiss U-19 and U-20 player Ruben Del Campo scored at 32 minutes with PFC a man down with Sean Young immediately off the pitch for assessment after going down with an injury. It was the import Del Campo’s league-leading fourth goal of the season as he took the lead in the race for the Golden Boot by beating Tridents goalkeeper Emil Gazdov to the far side off the post and in.
This time the clean sheet was on the other side and it was recorded by Ottawa goalkeeper Rayane Yesli.
“We are proud to break the streak. It felt very good on the road and quite special to get this result against a very good team,” said Yesli.
“We have experienced players who know how to deal with these moments. We knew it was going to be a tight game and we seized the chance that we had as Ruben [Del Campo] was the difference.”
PFC’s standout French-import defender Aly Ndom went down at five minutes with promising 19-year-old Chris Greco-Taylor, who represented Canada in the CONCACAF U-20 championship qualifying tournament this year, coming in as a replacement to make his CPL debut.
“It was hard to find my feet but I grew into the game,” said Greco-Taylor.
“It was tough to let in the goal with 10 men on the field. But to be fair, it was a great finish [by Del Campo], one of the best I have seen. After that I thought we dominated the second half but we needed to find that last third [of the field].”
Three PFC starters went out with injuries in the first half with Adonijah Reid joining Ndom and Young.
“Three big injuries in the first half makes it difficult to find your rhythm,” said PFC head coach James Merriman.
“But I thought we did enough to get something out of this game, at the least. I thought it was there to win.”
It was a battle heading in of undefeated clubs atop the table. Ottawa remained so at 4-0-2 in league and 5-0-3 overall while the Tridents fell to 3-1-2 in league and 4-1-3 overall.
It was a satisfying return to the Island for former PFC players Manny Aparicio, Amer Didic and Ollie Bassett.
The clubs met previously in playing to a scoreless draw at TD Place in Ottawa in the opening leg of their Voyageurs Cup Canadian Championship quarter-final with the second leg set for Starlight Stadium on May 29. The winner will advance to a semifinal match-up against the winner of a quarter-final between Calgary’s Cavalry FC of the CPL and the Vancouver Whitecaps of Major League Soccer.
The Tridents next play in the CPL’s cross-strait derby next Saturday against Vancouver FC in Langley.
