Montreal Impact defeat Cavalry FC 2:1 in Semi-Final first leg

Montreal Impact FC defeated Cavalry FC 2:1 in the opening leg of their 2019 Canadian Championship Semi-Final 7 August at Stade Saputo in Montreal, QC. The teams now head to Calgary, AB’s Spruce Meadows for the second leg 14 August LIVE on OneSoccer.ca.

Ignatio Piatti opened scoring at 32’ beating Cavalry defender Mason Trafford and sliding it past Marco Carducci to give the Impact the lead.

Within three minutes of the restart (49’) Ignatio Piatti notched his second of the game giving his team a commanding lead, sweeping the ball into an empty net, leaving Marco Carducci no chance of getting his hands on it.

Midway through the second half (69’) Malonga put the through to Camago who knocked the ball in giving the Cavalry the away goal. Shortly after (71’), Cavalry captain Nik Ledgerwood was shown a second yellow card of the night causing Cavalry to play out the match with ten.

In the final minutes (86’), Cavalry’s Oliver Minatel put the ball through to Dominic Malongo who put the Impact lead at risk with a dangerous cross from the left side in front of Pantemis’ goal, travelling just wide of the net. Piatti answered back just before the start of extra time (90’), looking to seal the deal on the hat-trick but was foiled by Carducci who pushed the ball up and out to complete the save.

Cavalry FC’s starting XI featured Jose Escalante along with Jordan Brown and Canadian Sergio Camargo up front. Julian Büscher, Nikolas Ledgerwood, Nathan Mavila and Canadian Nico Pasquotti combined to form the midfield. The defensive line was backstopped by Canadian goalkeeper Marco Carducci and defenders Jonathan Wheeldon and Canadians Dominick Zator and captain Mason Trafford.

Cavalry coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. brought on Dominic Malonga for Jordan Brown (61’), Mauro Estaquiao for Jose Escalante and Oliver Minatel came on to replace an injured Sergio Camago in the 80’.

Impact FC’s starting XI featured Canadian keeper James Pantemis backing up a defensive line made up of Bacary Sagna, Zakaria Diallo, Rudy Camacho, and Jukka Raitala. Clément Bahiya, Ken Krolicki,  Lassi Lappalainen and Canadian Samuel Piette joined to form the midfield. Captain Ignacio Piatti and Maximiliano Urruti rounded out the attack for the home team.

Impact coach Remi Garde brought on Orji Okwonkwo for Clément Bahiya (70’) and Saphir Taider for Lassi Lappalainen (79’).