York United coach Benjamin Mora doesn’t usually like to predict the outcome of games. But the Mexican had a feeling about the fourth- versus fifth-place matchup with Pacific FC that kicked off Canadian Premier League post-season play Wednesday.
Mora said he shared that thought with the club’s sporting director over coffee the morning of the game.
“I told him, ‘Don’t worry, I feel that we win 2-0,’” Mora said.
His team delivered, defeating Pacific by that very score before an announced crowd of 2,203 at York Lions Stadium.
“It’s not that I’m a magician or something,” Mora said. “No. But I know when the team is good. I know when the energy is flowing. Today it was flowing. Today we were in the zone. Today we did things correctly.”
It took a while to get there.
There was little of note in a sloppy first half that saw more than a few errant passes in York’s third career playoff outing — and first ever at home.
But Mexican Oswaldo Leon put York ahead in the 47th minute, rising high to head home a Juan Cordova cross after Pacific failed to clear a free kick sent into the penalty box. Four minutes later, Cordova hammered a shot off the goalpost after some more slack Pacific defending.
Cordova tested Pacific ‘keeper Sean Melvin again with a shot from distance in the 76th minute after slashing through the visitors’ defence.
With Pacific pressing for an equalizer in stoppage time, York captain Mo Babouli added an insurance goal with a low shot from the edge of the penalty box that beat Melvin.
“I think the most disappointing thing with today is how hard we fought to get this opportunity and we can’t say that we gave everything in the game,” said Pacific coach James Merriman, whose team didn’t secure a playoff berth until the final day of the regular season.
York travels to face third-place Atletico Ottawa in Sunday’s quarterfinal at TD Place. In other play Sunday, No. 1 Forge FC hosts No 2 Cavalry FC in the qualifying semifinal, with the winner advancing to the Nov. 9 championship game and the loser slotting into the Nov. 2 semifinal against the Ottawa-York winner.
York won three of the four meetings (3-0-1) with Ottawa this season.
It’s been a season of change for York, which was purchased last November by a Mexican consortium called Game Plan Sports Group. Mora took over the team after Martin Nash was fired in May.
Wednesday’s game was a rematch of last year’s fourth- versus fifth-place game, won 1-0 by Pacific at Langford, B.C., thanks to a stoppage-time goal by Adonijah Reid. The Vancouver Island side, which won the CPL title in 2021, went on to defeat Halifax Wanderers 1-0 before losing 2-1 at Cavalry FC in semifinal play.
York (11-11-6) finished fourth in the standings this season, five points ahead of fifth-place Pacific (9-12-7).
Forward Brian Wright, who ranked fourth in the league with nine goals but had not scored since Aug. 2, was surprisingly left on the bench to start for York. Mora called it a tactical move.
Referee Mathieu Souare went down in the 19th minute when he was hit in the head by an attempted pass by Matthew Baldisimo but continued on after receiving treatment.
York finished the regular season with just two wins and seven goals in its last 10 games (2-6-2), a run that included a 2-1 loss to visiting Pacific on Oct. 10. Still the 39 regular-season points were a York franchise record.
York set club records for home points (24) and wins (seven) in recording a 7-4-3 record at home. Only regular-season champion Forge FC collected more points at home (11-2-1, 34 points).
But after starting 6-1-2 at York Lions Stadium, York stumbled to a 1-3-2 record there ahead of the playoffs.
Pacific won 2-1 when the teams met Oct. 10 in Toronto. Pacific also won 2-0 May 4 in B.C. with York prevailing 2-0 on June 19 in Toronto. The teams drew 1-1 on Aug. 2 on Vancouver Island.
Pacific started the campaign with a league-record five straight clean sheets but needed a late-season surge to make the playoffs, losing just two of its final eight games (4-2-2). The late run was needed after collecting just one point out of a possible 21 in a 0-6-1 run before that — from July 14 to Aug. 30 — that saw it outscored 13-2.
Pacific, which won just three of 14 away matches (3-7-4)in regular-season play, scored a league-low 27 goals in 28 games, although 13 of those came in its previous eight outings.
