Atlético Ottawa advance to the Quarter-Finals after a 3:1 win over Halifax

Atlético Ottawa have advanced to the Quarter-Finals of the Canadian Championship for the first time after they engineered a 3:1 come-from-behind victory over the Halifax Wanderers. Ottawa’s Malcolm Shaw and Diego Espejo scored late in the first half after Massimo Ferrin gave Halifax the lead on a free kick. Maxim Tissot scored late to give Ottawa the two-goal cushion.

It was also Ottawa’s first win in the Canadian Championship in three tries. They lost to Winnipeg’s Valour FC in 2021 and were eliminated by York United FC on kicks from the penalty mark in 2022.

Atlético Ottawa will travel to Hamilton to face Forge FC in the 2023 Quarter-Finals in May. It will mark the first time the two sides face each other since last year’s CPL Championship in late October. Forge FC Hamilton won that contest 2:0 in Ottawa to take home the CPL’s North Star Shield.

In the Canadian Championship, Halifax took the lead in the 19th minute, then maintained momentum for most of the first half. Ferrin fired a free kick from outside the box past the wall and past the diving goalkeeper. It was Ferrin’s first goal as a Halifax player.

Suddenly and quickly at the end of the first half, Ottawa took the lead on the goals from Shaw and Espejo. Shaw scored in the 40th minute on a header from a Gianni Dos Santos cross. Espejo then scored in the 44th minute after Karl Ouimette hit the back post on a Noah Verhoeven cross.

In the second half, Halifax just couldn’t break past the Ottawa defence to score an equaliser. In the 85th minute on a quick counter attack, Ottawa’s Jean-Aniel Assi ran down the right side and then played it to Maxim Tissot on the left who got past the goalkeeper and slipped the ball into the empty net.

For the Ottawa goalscorers, Espejo recorded his first career goal in the competition while both Shaw and Tissot scored their second career goals in the competition.

About Canadian Championship
Canada Soccer’s Canadian Championship, also known as the Battle of the North, is the nation’s highest men’s domestic competition featuring clubs from coast to coast across the country, notably professional teams in Major League Soccer and the Canadian Premier League as well as league winners in League1 BC, League1 Ontario and Québec’s Premier League (Première ligue de soccer du Québec). Winners of the 2023 Canadian Championship lift the Voyageurs Cup and qualify to the annual international competition, Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League. Winners of the Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup.