HFX WANDERERS 2 PACIFIC FC 1
It was a long way to travel with nothing to show for it. HFX Wanderers rallied in the second half to beat Island-based Pacific FC 2-1 in a Canadian Premier League game before a capacity crowd at the Wanderers Ground on Saturday.
Terran Campbell gave Pacific FC the lead late in the first half by going to the short side, but the visitors could not hold the advantage. A goal by Trinidad and Tobago-capped Akeem Garcia, chipped over the outstretched arms of the charging PFC goalkeeper Mark Village, equalized at 51 minutes. Former MLS FC Dallas player Luis Alberto Perea, from the penalty spot at 67 minutes, brought victory to HFX.
The player of the game was Japanese import Kodai Iida, who assisted on HFX’s first goal by Garcia, and was later brought down in the box, leading to Perea’s winning goal from the penalty spot.
PFC looked to have the tying goal in injury time, but the ball was ruled not to have crossed the goal line at the near post. That crystallized, in one play, what kind of season the youthful PFC side has had. It has shown flashes of promise, but with no finish.
PFC is 1-3-2 in league and 0-2 and eliminated in the Voyageurs Cup, with its lone victory coming in its first game at Westhills Stadium against HFX. The Halifax club, captained by German import and Victoria Highlanders USL 2 graduate Peter Schaale, is 2-3-1 in league.
The flight distance from Victoria to Halifax is 4,476 kilometres. The match-up constituted the third-longest trip in the world between domestic league Premiership pro soccer clubs.
PFC gets a much-needed break before its next game, another cross-country jaunt, in Toronto against York9, on June 15.
