Atlético Ottawa picked up the most important victory in their short history on Saturday, beating Pacific FC 2-0 at Starlight Stadium in the first leg of the Canadian Premier League semifinals.
The match seemed destined for a 0-0 draw for most of the match. There weren’t a ton of shots on goal, but the few that did hit the target were stopped by the goalkeepers, with Nathan Ingham in the Ottawa net in particular coming up with a pair of impressive saves in the second half.
With a little over ten minutes to play, Ballou Tabla finally opened the scoring with a chipped shot to lift the ball over a rushing Callum Irving, and Zach Verhoven doubled the lead in stoppage time to give the regular season champions a huge advantage going into leg two next weekend.
Here is some postgame reaction from the two clubs.
"You don't do that, you don't score, we can't win a game" @Pacificfccpl head coach @James__Merriman spoke with @KristianJack after his side suffered a frustrating 2-0 loss to Atlético Ottawa at home in the first leg of the semifinals #CanPL pic.twitter.com/yNgXsoxRyu
— Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer) October 16, 2022
"I think that half of the job is done, but nothing else, I'm sure that in Ottawa next week is going to be a tough game" 🔴🔵@atletiOttawa coach @CarlosGonJuarez spoke with @KristianJack after his side's first-ever match, and first-ever playoff win #CanPL pic.twitter.com/uX77hfApNh
— Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer) October 16, 2022
"We feel obligated to do the job, Atlético has a winning mentality"
After his side's 2-0 win in Langford last night, @atletiOttawa goalkeeper @nateybird1 spoke to @KristianJack #CanPL pic.twitter.com/QOrbDqWZPn
— Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer) October 16, 2022