It was the battle of the top two scorers in the Canadian Premier League on Wednesday night at Westhills Stadium.
Chalk this one up to Pacific FC’s Terran Campbell.
Campbell leaped high in the air to deliver a header into the top corner in the 78th minute for the talented striker’s CPL-leading 10th goal of the season. It helped Pacific FC battle to a 1-1 draw with a surging Forge FC side that moves to 5-1-2 in the fall season.
The point allowed PFC to move to 3-4-3 for the fall and Campbell to move three goals clear of Forge FC captain Tristan Borges in the league goal-scoring race.
“The goal was amazing. [Campbell] got way up there, which is very hard to do, and then puts it high across to the other side where the goalkeeper had no chance,” said Pacific FC head coach Michael Silberbauer.
“Terran has upped his work rate the last few weeks and is getting himself into very good positions on the field — and so he’s having success right now.”
Forge newcomer Monti Mohsen, in his first CPL game, opened the scoring for the visitors at the 31st minute when his high shot sailed over an outstretched Mark Village.
Borges had a few dangerous chances, but for the most part was contained by Pacific FC defenders.
That wasn’t the case the last time Borges visited Westhills Stadium, as he hit the back of the net twice in a 3-1 Forge victory.
It didn’t help Wednesday that Borges and several other members of Forge were still recovering from a case of food poisoning they got during a trip to Honduras last week for their CONCACAF League match, which they lost to Olimpia.
“For about 66 minutes of the game we controlled it for the most part, but had some breakdowns in the second half,” Forge head coach Bobby Smyrniotis said.
“It may have been from the travel and stomach flu. But I think the effort was there and we rotated some guys in, so we can’t complain too much.”
Wednesday was David Norman Jr.’s first taste of CPL action after coming over on loan from MLS expansion club Inter Miami this week.
It was Norman who won the ball in the middle of the midfield and threw it out wide for Blake Smith to put across to Campbell, much to the delight of the 2,124 fans at Westhills.
“It was a good game and it was nice to slot into the starting lineup and help out,” said Norman.
“We’ve got some talented guys up front like Terran, so you want to get them the ball. And on the goal, Victor [Blasco] and Blake did a great job of that and Terran’s header was amazing.”
PFC gets a week off before they are back at Westhills Stadium next Wednesday to take on York9. The Toronto-based club is 3-5-1 in the fall season.
