What's sweeter than scoring a late winning goal?
Doing it for your hometown club.
Both Atlético Ottawa's Ralph Khoury and Cavalry FC's Owen Antoniuk found out what that feels like over the weekend, each finding the net to deliver three points against FC Supra and Forge FC, respectively.
Khoury, 19 years old, was a hero off the bench for Atleti. In just 18 minutes of action — his sixth Canadian Premier League appearance — he recorded his first professional assist on the equalizer, then scored the winner himself.
For both goals, Khoury linked up with a fellow Ottawa boy in Nicolas Fleuriau Chateau, who is off to the races in his first few weeks with Atleti.
This moment at the pro level was a long time coming for Khoury, though. Born in Lebanon, Khoury began his youth football journey there before arriving in Canada aged 15. He and his family settled quickly in the capital, to the point that Khoury now proudly calls Ottawa his home. The young striker made a name for himself in Ligue1 Québec with Ottawa South United, before finally getting the call from Atlético last year.
Khoury signed with the club last season on an Exceptional Young Talent contract and has worked his way into the first team. Now, at last, he's showing why Atleti have been so keen to integrate him into the group. In fact, coach Gustavo Leal was so eager to get Khoury on the pitch that he deployed him in a new position against Supra, operating as a midfielder behind Fleuriau Chateau.
Leal pointed out after the win in Laval that Atleti's youth movement continues apace. Last year, the club made headlines with its remarkable young defenders like Sergei Kozlovskiy, Noah Abatneh and Loïc Cloutier. This season, Khoury is part of the next generation.
So, too, were a couple of other locally-raised youngsters on Ottawa's bench this weekend: Reinaldo Abraham and Luca Levillain, both 18, signed Development Contracts last week and travelled to Supra.
"We have good youth players," Leal said postmatch. "For example, today Reinaldo made his debut, Ralph played for the first time in a new position as a midfielder and scored a goal. Step by step we're developing these young players, to be one really strong group."
Meanwhile, in Calgary, Owen Antoniuk had a dream moment of his own — but perhaps even better, since he did it at home. Antoniuk blasted an exceptional strike from outside the box to beat Forge FC and put Cavalry into first place, which is real storybook stuff.
Antoniuk, 23, has had a long path to the professional game. The Calgary native played briefly in the Vancouver Whitecaps academy, and went on loan with Atlético Ottawa for a stint in 2022, before opting to play U SPORTS football with the University of Calgary (and a little Ontario Premier League action with Windsor City FC).
He now plays for his hometown Cavs after they picked him in the 2025 CPL-U SPORTS Draft, and suddenly he's in contention for a lot more playing time after scoring twice in three weeks.
Cavalry manager Tommy Wheeldon Jr. mentioned that Antoniuk's breakout in the CPL is a full-circle moment in Calgary, considering all the time he spent with various clubs around the city.
“He’s a local hero," Wheeldon Jr. said of Antoniuk after the Forge win. "He’s played for the Blizzard, Foothills, U of C, and then to score the goal when the eyes are watching, that’s an exclamation mark. For us, that isn’t a surprise; it’s just, what a moment to score that goal."
Khoury and Antoniuk are just the latest examples of locally developed heroes playing starring roles for their hometown clubs in the CPL.
Fostering homegrown talent has always been a core tenet of this league, as is providing high-stakes professional experience to young players.
The examples are there, and we'll only see more as clubs continue to play the kids.
For now, though, Khoury and Antoniuk are on cloud nine. Neither of them is ever going to forget that magic moment.
