Days after their special Canadian Championship triumph, Forge just missed out on another trophy on Sunday, as they drew 1-1 with Pacific at Royal Athletic Park to finish the regular season in second place, missing out on the CPL Shield to Cavalry by two points.
With Cavalry beating Vancouver FC 1-0 concurrently in Calgary, it turns out that even a Forge win wouldn't have been enough to top the regular season table, unless it had been by a significant number of goals, but Forge will nonetheless rue that they weren't able to end the season on a winning note.
At the very least, a win could've put some pressure on Cavalry, who spent the second half of their game protecting their lead after scoring early, as a Cavalry draw and Forge win would've sent the CPL Shield to the Hammers.
"Coming off of Wednesday, that was a very monumental game for us and a historic game," Forge head coach, Bobby Smyrniotis, said afterward. "There was a lot of adrenaline that went into that for the players. There's a lot of energy that you use, which always makes the next one tough."
To that point, though, credit has to be given to Pacific for denying Forge that victory, as the Tridents put in a good battle against a team that has haunted them in recent years, winning their last seven head-to-head matchups before this one.
Despite going down early, Pacific did well to claw one back, and were unlucky not to win the game at the end, which would've been a perfect exclamation point to what was otherwise a good day for the club, who drew a good crowd on their final match of the regular season.
For a team that finished in eighth place with just 15 points, this feels like a performance that shows that while this season did not go to plan, there are reasons for Pacific to be optimistic heading into next season.
After an uptick in results following the arrival of new head coach Terry Dunfield partway through the season, they'll see that as a sign that they can take some more steps forward next year, provided they build on the foundation they feel that they've set in recent months.
"We were really proud of that performance," Dunfield said after the match. "A lot of work this week went into it, but it was great to see the guys alive out there playing a real entertaining brand of football."
Returning to the match, however, while Pacific conceded first, they did well to almost open the scoring moments earlier.
After dancing his way into the box in the ninth minute, Yann Toualy found the space to fire off a dangerous shot, one that forced a good save out of Forge's Dimitry Bertaud.
At the other end, though, Forge found their first chance of the game in the 12th minute, and they made the most of it. After a nice cutback from Levonte Johnson to Tristan Borges, the Forge captain made the most of his attempt, curling a first-time shot with his right foot towards the back post, lofting his attempt over the hands of goalkeeper Eleias Himaras into the top corner of the goal to make it 1-0.
Eager to respond with an equalizer, Pacific had a glorious chance at goal in the 16th minute, as Ronan Kratt danced through a Forge defender before firing a dangerous low shot towards goal, but Bertaud once again got down to stop the attempt.
Continuing their push for a goal, Pacific almost found joy on a corner right before half-time, as Diego Konincks fired a dangerous header towards goal after winning a duel at the back post, but a Forge defender cleared his attempt off the line.
Forge almost made Pacific pay for not scoring on the subsequent counter-attack, too, as Borges broke off on a 1v1 run after a nice kick from Bertaud, but he was unable to get his shot on goal.
On the other side of half-time, Pacific continued to push for that goal, and nearly found it, as Toualy had a couple more good chances. After skying a shot over the goal from a good position in the 56th minute, he attempted an acrobatic kick in the 64th minute that sliced just wide of the net.
Then, Taras Gomulka had a nice moment on a corner in the 69th minute, as he took a ball down and flicked a shot towards goal, but his attempt also sliced just wide of the goal.
Eventually, though, that endless wave of Pacific pressure paid off, as they finally found their equalizer in the 72nd minute. It all came from a brilliant individual play from Kratt, too, who danced through a defender before firing a shot towards goal, one that hit the crossbar and just rolled over the line to make it 1-1.
Wanting to regain their lead, Forge started to push again, and they came close to finding another goal in the 84th minute. After a dangerous ball towards the back post, Antoine Batisse did well to rise to meet the cross with a good header, but he sent his attempt just wide of the goal from in close.
Then, moments later, Ben Paton got on the end of a dangerous Marko Jevremovic cutback inside Pacific's box, but he sliced his shot just past the far post.
After that flurry of Forge chances, Pacific had one last opportunity to win the game before full-time, as Marley Edwards broke away in transition and fired a shot from a good position, but he sliced his shot just wide of the target, on what ended up being the final play of the match - much to the frustration of the supporters, who had thought that could've been the winning goal, and had started to celebrate as such.
Box Score
Starting XIs
Pacific FC: Himaras; Marshall, Belluz, Konincks, Greco-Taylor; Gomulka, Browning Lagerfeldt; Bustos (Keshavarz 84'), Schiavoni (Edwards 63'), Toualy (Díaz 68); Kratt
Forge FC: Bertaud; Rama (Bourgeois 46'), Nimick, James, Jevremovic; Aromatario (Batisse 59'), Paton; Johnson (Sadek 59'), Borges (Jensen 78'), Massunda; Wright (Oketokoun 59')
Goals
12' - Tristan Borges (Forge FC)
72' - Ronan Kratt (Pacific FC)
Discipline
50' - Yellow: Yann Toualy (Pacific FC)
71' - Yellow: Dan Nimick (Forge FC)
83' - Yellow: Christian Greco-Taylor (Pacific FC)
90+5' - Yellow: Lukas Browning Lagerfeldt (Pacific FC)
90+7' - Yellow: Taras Gomulka (Pacific FC)
CPLSoccer.com Player of the Match
Ronan Kratt, Pacific FC
Kratt was a lively presence at the tip of Pacific's attacking trident, scoring his team's goal while generating three shots, completing four dribbles and winning five out of eight of his duels.
What's Next?
Forge will take on Atlético Ottawa in the semi-finals of the Canadian Premier League playoffs, with the first leg being played in Ottawa at TD Place on Sunday, November 1st (2 p.m. ET), and the second leg in Hamilton at Hamilton Stadium on Sunday, November 8th (1 p.m. ET).