Pacific FC looking for another big game performance vs. Whitecaps ...

This past calendar year has been a trying one for Pacific FC.

Since late August 2023, they have won just seven of 27 Canadian Premier League regular season matches. A club that has lived above the playoff line for the better part of four seasons, they currently sit seventh out of eight in the league table.

But regardless of what have proceeded or followed them, big games always seem to have ignited a different identity and performance level in this Tridents’ team. In the midst of that difficult run of form to end 2023, they still managed to reach the semifinals of last year’s CPL playoffs, defeating York United on Vancouver Island, before travelling across the country to get a win against the Halifax Wanderers in Halifax just three days later.

During this year’s Canadian Championship, they rescued themselves from the brink of elimination in the Preliminary round with a 98th-minute equalizer from Reon Moore against League1 BC club TSS Rovers, before Emil Gazdov played hero in a seven-round penalty shootout. Pacific then stunned Atlético Ottawa 2-1 over two legs in the quarter-finals — who at that point had not lost a single match all year.

That set up a third semifinal appearance in four years for the Island club, and an opportunity to face local rivals the Vancouver Whitecaps for a third time, who they famously defeated at Starlight Stadium in 2021, with this occasion being over two legs. The first leg saw them fall 1-0 on a 58th-minute header from Ryan Gauld, but also affirmed their belief that they could absolutely compete with the back-to-back Canadian Champions.

As he gathered his team on the pitch for a postgame huddle on that July 10 day at Starlight Stadium, Pacific captain Josh Heard passionately stated just that.

“Boys, the effort, energy everything was there, I thank you guys for that work, but there’s still another leg,” said Heard. “We had chances, we can f–king win this next leg, we stay as a team, we take the positives and we go from there.”

While they trail the Whitecaps just 1-0 on aggregate, what would feel like a small deficit to other teams appears to be a mountain to climb on the mainland for Pacific. They step onto the turf at BC Place on Tuesday having scored just two goals in total in the five matches since their meeting with the Whitecaps.

But in a cup match like this, they can dare to dream. League form goes out the window, and all that matters is how the two sides perform over the coming 90 minutes — with the caveat, of course, that Pacific FC need to score at least once.

If they can do that, however, this group has still shown a significant commitment to the defensive side of the ball. They have allowed just 21 goals in 19 CPL matches this season, and are tied with fellow Canadian Championship semifinalists Forge for the most clean sheets kept this season in league action with seven.

The Whitecaps, of course, are a different beast, currently sitting sixth place in the MLS Western Conference, and having scored 43 times this season. They have also shown a strong respect and commitment to getting results in this competition in recent years, lifting the last two Voyageurs Cup.

But what the Tridents are trying to do on Tuesday night isn’t unprecedented. Just a round earlier, Pacific’s CPL brethren Cavalry went into BC Place and outplayed Vancouver Whitecaps, earning a 1-0 victory. The Calgary club were ultimately eliminated on away goals but prompted Whitecaps manager Vanni Sartini to petition Canada Soccer to do away with that rule because he felt the Cavs deserved better for their second leg performance.

Speaking of dreams, it has always been one for Pacific FC’s head coach James Merriman, since the very start, to get to bring a Tridents’ team across the Salish Sea and into BC Place to face the Whitecaps in the Canadian Championship. The three previous meetings between these two sides, including the first leg, have all been at Pacific’s Starlight Stadium.

Perhaps stepping out onto such a big stage will ignite what would be a herculean performance from his side in order to achieve a historic positive result on Tuesday at BC Place.

“I’ve always wanted to, since this project with Pacific, since the very beginning, I’ve always wanted to take the team to BC Place and play in a Canadian Championship match,” said Merriman earlier this year. “I spent six seasons at the Whitecaps working in the academy, working in the residency with a lot of the young players that came through.

“I came to Pacific with clear goals for the organization and club, with the ownership and the management, and one of the biggest things was can we take this team into BC Place and try to get a result and put in a big performance against the Whitecaps. That’s been there since day one.”

If they can execute on Tuesday, it would mean the realization of an even better dream, hosting the Canadian Championship final at Starlight Stadium. For the club, its players, and its fans this would be an incredible moment, one that would reaffirm the fact that they are building something special out of the Island — a team that continues to punch well above its weight.