Vancouver FC, Cavalry battle to 1-1 draw in Canadian Championship quarterfinal
LANGLEY - A late goal from Tobias Warschewski helped Cavalry FC rescue a 1-1 draw against Vancouver FC in the first leg of their Canadian Championship quarterfinal matchup on Wednesday.
David Norman Jr. opened the scoring for Vancouver in the 41st minute, but Cavalry drew even in the 84th thanks to Warchewski's strike.
Cavalry controlled 61.2 per cent of possession throughout the game, but Vancouver outshot the visitors 12-9. Cavalry held a 4-3 edge in on-target shots.
Vancouver holds a 1-3-2 record in the Canadian Premier League standings while Cavalry sits third in the eight-team league after going 3-2-1.
The second half of the two-game aggregate quarterfinal series will be played in Calgary on July 8.
The winner will face either fellow CPL team Valour FC or Major League Soccer's Vancouver Whitecaps in the semifinals. Valour and the 'Caps battled to a 2-2 draw on Tuesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
2 days ago
- New York Times
Why Jesse Marsch is under Concacaf investigation and Canada's response
Canada Soccer says it is working to 'resolve this matter' after Concacaf opened an investigation into Canada men's national team coach Jesse Marsch on Wednesday. Concacaf initiated disciplinary proceedings over the possibility that Canada Soccer and Marsch 'disregarded regulations applicable to suspended match officials and used offensive language toward Concacaf match officials' during Canada's 6-0 rout of Honduras to open the Gold Cup – a match for which Marsch was suspended. Advertisement 'We received a notice from Concacaf and are currently gathering the relevant information, for our submission, as part of the process to resolve this matter,' a Canada Soccer spokesperson told The Athletic. Multiple sources with knowledge of the matter, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly, have detailed why Marsch is currently being investigated. It's believed Marsch was directed by a Concacaf official to a suite in Vancouver's BC Place ahead of Canada's match, where he was to watch the game. Marsch was then approached by a Concacaf official later in the match and told he was not in the correct place and had to leave the suite. Marsch, likely frustrated at what he believed to be mixed messaging, then used language Concacaf deemed 'offensive.' Canada Soccer's deadline to submit information as part of the proceedings is this Saturday, the same day as Canada's second Gold Cup game, against Curaçao. Marsch remains suspended following his red card in Canada's third-place match of the Nations League finals against the U.S. in March, which resulted in a two-game ban. He is eligible to return for Canada's third group game, against El Salvador on June 24. Behind the scenes, Canada Soccer is believed to be focused on cooperating and diffusing any continued controversy between the organization and the confederation. Marsch has repeatedly put Concacaf in the crosshairs with public comments and actions, making it natural to wonder whether Concacaf's proceedings against Marsch and Canada Soccer are an effort to push back against the continued criticism of the confederation. Ahead of the Nations League match against the U.S., Marsch said his Canada team has felt 'disrespect for a long time' when playing in games with Concacaf officiating, only to then take issue with calls against the U.S. to the point he was ejected and suspended. Marsch and Canada Soccer also felt frustrated they never received proper feedback on why a penalty was not awarded to Derek Cornelius in Canada's semifinal against Mexico. Advertisement Earlier this month, Marsch alleged to reporters that multiple Canada and Vancouver Whitecaps players were 'poisoned' on Concacaf's watch while they were in Mexico for the Concacaf Champions Cup final. 'It's for me, appalling that this is the second year in a row that Concacaf and the powers that be have allowed an MLS team to go down to Mexico for a big final and get poisoned,' Marsch said. 'It's ridiculous. Something has to be done to protect these environments.' Marsch also questioned why Concacaf required him to name his Gold Cup squad ahead of Canada's June friendlies against Ukraine and Ivory Coast. On Wednesday, Marsch said he was 'disappointed' that his team could not travel sooner to Houston, where it will play its second and third games of the group stage, while also expressing frustration and it being unclear where a first knockout game would be played. 'They didn't have room for us, however Concacaf arranged this. They didn't time for us because maybe there's other games or something going on down there where we can't get there sooner,' Marsch said. 'So we don't have much time to acclimate. And the other part is: how (do we not) know where we're going?' Concacaf has not yet publicly announced which teams that reach the knockout stage will travel to either Glendale, Ariz., or Minneapolis for the quarterfinals, leaving team officials with little time to prepare their teams for the next phase of the tournament.
New York Times
2 days ago
- New York Times
Canucks offseason primer 2025: Cap space, trade chips, UFA targets and more
The Stanley Cup has been awarded, and the starting gun that signals 'Go!' has sounded to mark the official start of the NHL offseason. For the Vancouver Canucks, a team coming off a disappointing 2024-25 season, this is a critical offseason, one that has started in an unsettled fashion given the departure of head coach Rick Tocchet and the seemingly endless local speculation about the franchise's future and the future of its star player. Advertisement The Canucks have significant needs to fill, significant departures that are widely expected to occur and a lot of questions to answer with the moves that Vancouver's hockey operations leadership team executes in the weeks and months ahead. For those of you that haven't been obsessively following our work to this point in the offseason, let's get caught up ahead of the traditional silly season with a Canucks 2025 offseason primer. While the big picture questions surrounding the long-term future of Quinn Hughes will be the largest factor shaping this already unsettled offseason, the Canucks' priorities and actions will be guided, as always, by who stays and who goes in unrestricted free agency. The Canucks have seven key pending unrestricted free agents. At this point, it's anticipated that the two biggest names among them, Brock Boeser and Pius Suter, are more likely to test the open market on July 1 than they are to sign an extension in Vancouver at the 11th hour. Now these things can always change with one phone call, but it's certainly trending toward Vancouver, which was already short-handed in terms of quality forward depth, losing even more talent up front at the outset of this offseason. The Canucks will need to identify and acquire replacements and upgrades, as the potential departure of Boeser and Suter will fundamentally alter the depth chart. Suter and Boeser walking on July 1 would also surely harm this team's special teams effectiveness without savvy reinforcement. There are no easy answers on the open market this offseason. The pool of top unrestricted free agent centres is relatively shallow, and the top players in pending unrestricted free agency seem unlikely to even make it to July 1 in the first place. Among full-time centres still poised to be unsigned on July 1, for example, Conn Smythe winner Sam Bennett is the only pivot who recorded more than 50 points this past season and is under 30. It's a similar story on the wings, where the level of talent falls off precipitously after Mitch Marner and Nikolaj Ehlers. Advertisement The Canucks have long felt that the trade market is the more fruitful route this offseason to address their need for offensive pop. They will still explore their options and look for value in unrestricted free agency, though. Perhaps Vancouver will roll the dice on a gifted older player like Matt Duchene, who can fill in at both centre and wing and managed 82 points this past season (though he struggled at the pointy end of the Stanley Cup playoffs). When you scan the options in unrestricted free agency, however, it's no surprise that Canucks hockey operations leadership intends to be aggressive on the trade market in seeking to find answers to their significant top-six forward questions. The Canucks' offseason to-do list has already shifted significantly over the course of the past few months. From Tocchet's departure, to the delay in getting Tom Willander under contract and up-and-running in the AHL during this Calder Cup playoff run (not that his absence has prevented the Abbotsford Canucks from going on an astonishing run to the Calder Cup Final), this offseason has already been something of a novel for the organization. Vancouver has a lot of road to run if it's going to close the gap with the NHL's bona fide contenders. The contemporary NHL is no longer a league driven by parity. Only four Western Conference teams have made it to the conference final since the 2019-20 season (plus Montreal from the North Division season). Only five Eastern Conference teams have made it to the conference final in that span, with only the two Florida teams actually advancing to contest the Stanley Cup Final in the last six years. It's not enough to be good, get in and 'anything can happen' anymore. If the Canucks are going to compete with the best teams in the league, there are significant needs to fill. Advertisement 1. An elite forward: In the wake of J.T. Miller's departure (and Elias Lindholm's departure, and Bo Horvat's departure before that), it's tempting to suggest that the Canucks' biggest need is another top-six centre. However, Vancouver's most pressing need is elite talent, or young players with the potential to become elite. This need is position agnostic. If the Canucks are going to find a way into the mix with the teams like Edmonton, Dallas and Florida, they're going to need to find another elite forward (in addition to having Elias Pettersson bounce back). 2. A top-line calibre forward: The Canucks' forward group is short more than just one star-level contributor. They're also going to need at least one more top-of-the-lineup calibre contributor if they hope to measure up with the NHL's best teams. This is, again, somewhat position agnostic, which isn't to ignore the pressing need for centre depth. Ideally, one of Vancouver's two sorely needed big-ticket forward additions this summer will be a centre, but the need for high-end talent is greater than any positional need on the roster. The Canucks have maybe three top-line calibre forwards locked up for next season (Jake DeBrusk, Elias Pettersson and Conor Garland), and even that evaluation is debatable. Arguably, all three of those players would be more devastating if slotted on a second or third line. A difference-making top-line calibre forward, in addition to another star-level player, is what it's going to take for the Canucks to hang with the best teams. Realistically, it will be challenging for Vancouver to achieve all of this in one offseason, but these are the most significant needs that it should focus on addressing. 3. Two top-six calibre forwards: Now that we've covered Vancouver's pressing need to add high-end talent into the mix, we can finally get to replacing Suter and Boeser's contributions if they walk on July 1. The Canucks are aware of the need to bring in at least three new forwards to freshen up their offensive attack this summer. Without question, the task at hand is a monumental one. Given the severity of Vancouver's needs up front, the available salary cap resources are unlikely to be sufficient. Vancouver has some meaningful cap flexibility going into this offseason, with just a hair over $12 million in available cap space to spend and a roster that's more or less filled out with NHL-level talent and only Aatu Räty to sign among key restricted free agents. Despite having more dead money on the books than the average NHL team, as a result of the Oliver Ekman-Larsson buyout and the Ilya Mikheyev retained salary transaction, Vancouver will be able to add to its roster with due flexibility as a result of this summer's NHL record salary cap growth (which will accelerate at a fixed rate over the next two seasons). There is no crunch that the Canucks are going to be working through, no urgency to cut salary this summer. (Image courtesy The real cap problem that Vancouver is facing isn't an overall lack of space; it's a relative lack of space. There are several teams, including younger sides that finished close to where the Canucks did in the standings like Utah, Anaheim and Columbus, that will head into this summer with nearly $30 million or more in available cap space. Advertisement Vancouver has the space to make significant changes, but it doesn't have the sort of purchasing power that other teams will be able to wield over the course of what promises to be a wild NHL offseason. Under the stewardship of president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford and general manager Patrik Allvin, the Canucks have generally been an aggressive team on the trade market. They look to trade at high volume and view their ability to get deals done and willingness to make significant trades as a competitive advantage. The Canucks are motivated to make deals this summer, and here are some of the trade chips that we'll be focused on as the offseason unfolds. • Teddy Blueger: Blueger has been quality during his two Vancouver seasons, but he's a movable player with a nearly $2 million cap hit and the Canucks may look to open up space for Räty to step into the middle six next season. That makes him a player to watch on the trade market this summer, even though the Canucks regard his penalty killing and defensive acumen highly. • Thatcher Demko or Artūrs Šilovs: In the wake of the in-season Kevin Lankinen extension, the Canucks are currently poised to have three goaltenders on one-way NHL contracts, all of whom will require waivers next fall. The Canucks seem to be keen to try to extend Demko, who endured a nightmare campaign injury-wise and becomes extension-eligible on July 1. The player, likewise, appears open to extending in Vancouver. Any deal they do with their oft-injured star netminder, however, will have to involve some level of shared risk. If there's no progress made on a potential contract, could Demko become a trade chip this offseason, given the marvellous form that Artūrs Šilovs demonstrated in the Calder Cup playoffs? Alternatively, could Šilovs be part of one of the packages that Vancouver puts on the table this summer as they search for top-end forward talent? • Pick No. 15 in the 2025 NHL Draft: It will be something of a surprise if the Canucks actually use their 2025 first-round pick. There are players in this draft class that Vancouver is high on, but the short-term needs are pressing, and even though this draft class is widely viewed as below average from a depth of talent perspective, the pick could have some meaningful value as a trade chip. • Victor Mancini: The Canucks have emergency-level needs up front, but some surplus of talent on the back end. Acquired as part of the Miller trade with the Rangers in late January, Mancini has a ton of desirable traits — quality skating ability, a big frame and he's a right-handed shooter — and could be a marketable trade asset as Vancouver hunts for forward talent this summer. The Canucks are very high on him and would prefer to keep Mancini (and other organizational depth pieces like Sawyer Mynio, too, for that matter), but there's an understanding internally that they won't be able to accomplish what they need to without some level of pain. Advertisement After another tough bounce in the NHL Draft lottery, which has always been cruel to the franchise, Vancouver sits in the middle of the first round at the 2025 NHL Draft. We don't expect the franchise to utilize that pick to actually select a player, but this does promise to be an especially unpredictable NHL offseason and stranger things have happened. Even stranger still: Vancouver has a pick in each round of the 2025 draft, which is somewhat unusual for a franchise that has only selected in the second round on five occasions in the previous decade. Presumably some of those draft picks will be burning a hole in the Canucks' pockets over the next week or so. Despite an industry perception that the 2025 draft isn't the most loaded class, there are some interesting names to track. Seattle Thunderbirds centre Braeden Cootes is said to have piqued Vancouver's interest, according to reports from The Athletic and CHEK TV's Rick Dhaliwal. Big, WHL goal-scoring centre Roger McQueen is an interesting, volatile name to track as the draft unfolds, given his unique upside and concerning recent injury history. Beyond the draft, Vancouver has a handful of young organizational depth players who have performed at an extraordinary level in the AHL playoffs this spring. Some of those players look ready to make an impact on Vancouver's NHL roster next fall. (Photo of Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes: Jeff Vinnick / NHLI via Getty Images)
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Down to Business: Stadiums have long been built for men, but that's starting to change
Down to Business: Stadiums have long been built for men, but that's starting to change As the daughter of an architect, I have judged every space I walk into since I was old enough to reach a door knob. Combining that with my job as a sports writer, I love a well-designed stadium and take in every element. While I admire good taste and quality materials, what matters most to me in those arenas is how easily I can access my seat, how intuitive the layout is for my sightline, how cleverly they've set up concessions and merch and whether I can make it to the ladies' room and back without aging a decade. Advertisement Over the past few months, I've spoken with architects, design firms, industry insiders and fans to understand what it means to design stadiums with women in mind. Turns out the common thread — from turnstiles to bathrooms, from food courts to shower cubbies for athletes — is that those in charge are starting to think more intentionally about how to create spaces that cater to women, both on the field and off. In the NWSL, Kansas City Current's CPKC Stadium marks a major milestone as the first purpose-built venue for a women's team in the league and a bold bet that a women's club can deliver a return on investment. While the stadium wasn't designed to be different simply because it's for women, the intention was to build it to the same professional standards as any top-tier men's venue, and it still reflects a deep consideration for women who use it. From women-specific locker rooms to sensory spaces and breastfeeding facilities for the fans, the design adds a thoughtful layer of creativity, exploring how a stadium can function and feel when women are considered equally. 'We've been doing a lot of thinking, both from an athlete and a fan perspective,' said Fran Weld, the co-founder and CEO of Canopy Team, a consulting firm that helps sports venues design conscious spaces 'One of the things that I think has been used as a proxy for designing for women is actually designing for kids and thinking about how children interact with space.' Advertisement Weld is also an investor in the NWSL's Bay FC franchise, which currently plays at PayPal Park, built for the men's team, the San Jose Earthquakes, in Major League Soccer. The venue will also host the 2025 NWSL Championship in November. One of Canopy Team's notable projects is the renovation of the 63-year-old Dodger Stadium with women and families in mind. While the stadium is not currently used for women's sports, Canopy put women front and center when designing common spaces. They added new seating in Centerfield Plaza, created more space for kids to run around and introduced family-friendly features across all levels. Play areas, sensory rooms, nursing and infant care accommodations were all added. Play zones were placed near food and beer gardens with big-screen TVs, so parents can keep an eye on the game while their kids stay entertained. The goal was simple: make it easier for families to enjoy the stadium together. They also added dedicated locker rooms in the clubhouse for women coaches and umpires, a long-overdue update. The move isn't just the right thing to do. It's also good for business. A 2024 survey by The Collective, Wasserman's women-focused advisory business, found that 72 percent of women globally identify as avid fans of one or more sports, and 25 percent said following their favorite sports is 'one of the most important things in their lives.' Advertisement Canopy is also working on the first girls-only youth development and leadership training facility in Indiana alongside Marvella Sports. After dozens of interviews with girls, coaches, training staff, parents and professional athletes, the firm developed a space specifically designed for young female athletes. Eponymously named Marvella, as a tribute to Indiana Senator Birch Bayh's wife, who inspired the transformational equity in higher education and sports, which led to Title IX, the 300,000-square-foot indoor training and educational facility will be the first sports campus designed uniquely for women athletes. 'We've been working closely with coaches and training staff to design clubhouse spaces specifically for the female body,' says Weld. 'It's all in the details — small touches like built-in shelves in the shower for leg shaving, or handheld showerheads instead of fixed overhead ones, so players can avoid getting their hair wet — something especially important for Black women.' Canopy is not the only design firm thinking and creating inclusive sports venues. 'We've been designing for elite athletes for a long time and we look at things from a different perspective,' Sherri Privitera, who sits on global architecture powerhouse Populous' regional board and leads the company's women's sports market and elite athlete training market, told Advertisement The architecture firm just announced they are coming on board as a sponsor for the FIFA World Cup 26 events in Kansas City by designing key fan environments, including the Kansas City FIFA Fan Festival. Populous is involved with 11 of the 16 FIFA World Cup 26 stadiums, as well as Arrowhead Stadium, Children's Mercy Park and Kauffman Stadium, and Saudi Arabia's King Salman International Stadium (which will host games in the 2034 FIFA men's World Cup). Populous also worked with Australian rules football clubs Brisbane Lions and Sydney Swans on their arenas. Stateside, the Golden State Valkyries, the WNBA's newest team, has partnered with the architectural firm to design two women-centered spaces: a locker room at Chase Center and a practice facility in Oakland. Privitera's team is also working with the Portland Thorns and Portland WNBA's joint training facility, the Denver NWSL franchise's new stadium and training facility, as well as the New York Liberty's new training facility. From smoothie stations designed to reduce inflammation and ease menstrual cramps, to private changing areas for athletes who value discretion, Populous designers are reimagining female-focused training facilities. They're also integrating lifestyle support spaces for athletes balancing work and family, along with beauty stations for hair and nails, because performance and personal care aren't mutually exclusive. On Tuesday, recently-crowned USL Super League champions Tampa Bay Sun FC announced a plan for their own 15,000-seat stadium across a 33-acre project in the city's waterfront area. If built, it would be the first in the Division I women's soccer league, which sits under the USL umbrella of men's and women's leagues. The area would also house USL headquarters; however, there isn't a timeline for the development plan. Advertisement Meanwhile, in England, Women's Super League Football (WSL Football), which oversees the Women's Super League (WSL) and Women's Super League 2 (WSL2), commissioned the Manchester-based AFL Architects to create the world's first design guideline for women's stadiums. Following the success of the 2022 Euros in England, WSL Football is launching efforts to grow women's soccer fandom while also accommodating the athletes. 'Women's football stadiums represent a unique architectural typology, distinct from traditional football venues,' Rita Ochoa, senior associate at AFL Architects, told . Over her career, Ochoa has led major stadium and arena projects around the world, including Lusail Stadium in Qatar, Fukuyama Stadium in Japan, Gtech Community Stadium for Brentford in London and KAEC Stadium in Saudi Arabia for the FIFA men's World Cup 2034. 'They require innovative designs that address the specific needs of female players and cater to one of the most diverse fan communities in sports.' Ochoa's team is consulting a wide range of stakeholders, including fans, players, managers, staff, journalists, influencers, sports architects and sustainability experts for a new report. They've created a focus group with other sports architects, engineers, stadium managers and clubs to review their findings. The document, provisionally titled , will be published in late 2025. Advertisement 'For us in Europe, stadiums are like cathedrals, given football is almost a religion here,' Ochoa said. 'Having your own stadium is important for the community.' Similar to many teams in the U.S., there are currently no stadiums built for women's soccer in England, though some WSL teams are starting to move into men's teams' stadiums, like Arsenal, who will play all games at the Emirates next year, sharing it with the men's team, and Everton Women, who are taking over Goodison Park. Other situations where teams rent stadiums make it difficult to build a community. 'We architects design stadiums based on a document called the Green Guides,' Ochoa says. According to this guide, the space between each seat is based on a typical white British man's height. 'When you're designing for women and children, you're dealing with a wider range of heights, but stadium seats are typically built for men. If I'm a child or a woman, I might not be able to see the field. That means seats may need to be higher, and the overall stand design might have to change to ensure clear sightlines to the pitch.' Advertisement Ochoa's research aims to answer a long list of questions about how to create stadiums for women's teams, from an accessibility perspective to what kind of bathrooms they need to have and what their food courts need to look like. 'Most stadiums are built with men in mind, who mostly drink a beer and go back to their seats. We need to think about creating spaces where female fans feel comfortable, with seating areas which are also better for community building,' Ochoa says. They're also encouraging women's teams to design stadiums that feel more open and inviting— spaces that allow passersby to catch a glimpse of the action, in contrast to the traditional, colosseum-like structures that hide the pitch from public view. 'CPKC is a good example of that. Even if you're on the river or on the road, you can see part of the stands,' she adds. As the NWSL continues to expand, commissioner Jessica Berman has made it clear that infrastructure is a top priority. A handful of NWSL teams announced building training facilities, including the Thorns, Angel City FC and Denver, but aside from Kansas City Current, most are still playing in borrowed or retrofitted spaces — usually MLS stadiums — that weren't built with women in mind with cramped locker rooms, urinals and poor sightlines for smaller bodies. Most clubs create gameday setups with more curated activities, but it is a juggling act. Advertisement 'I think the league's commitment to having venues where the women's team is not second-class citizens is one of the foundations of why we've seen the growth and success in the last few years,' Weld says. But from both a business and environmental standpoint, the solution might not be as simple as building a purpose-built stadium in every market. 'A mix of uses is always going to be the best business case,' Weld said. 'Maybe the men's teams should be thinking about this, too. I often think about leadership and the dynamics of power — if you're in a position of privilege, it's your responsibility to use that influence to make space for others who aren't always given a seat at the table.' This article originally appeared in The Athletic. Advertisement Portland Thorns, Chicago Red Stars, Houston Dash, North Carolina Courage, OL Reign, Orlando Pride, Gotham FC, Kansas City Current, Washington Spirit, Angel City, Racing Louisville FC, San Diego Wave, Utah Royals FC, Bay FC, Soccer, NWSL, Sports Business, UK Women's Football 2025 The Athletic Media Company
