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Impact down Cavalry to advance to Canadian Championship final

Impact 1 Cavalry 0
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Impact 1 Cavalry 0

CALGARY — The Montreal Impact advanced to the Canadian Championship final after defeating Calgary’s Cavalry FC 1-0 on Wednesday.

Anthony Jackson-Hamel scored in the opening half and goalkeeper Clement Diop made three saves to record the shutout for Montreal in front of a crowd of 5,633 fans at Spruce Meadows’ ATCO FIELD.

After winning both matches against Cavalry FC, 3-1 on aggregate, the Impact will play for the Voyageurs Cup next month against defending Canadian champion Toronto FC, which beat the Ottawa Fury 3-0 earlier on Wednesday to win the other semifinal series 5-0 on aggregate.

Calgary had a good chance to score in the eighth minute, but Mauro Eustaquio’s hard shot from outside the box was deflected, making it easier for Diop to make the save.

The Impact opened the scoring in the 13th minute when Jackson-Hamel headed Saphir Taider’s corner kick past Cavalry goalie Marco Carducci, who got his hand on the ball before it trickled across the line.

Calgary continued to press and it nearly resulted in a goal when Dominick Zator headed a corner kick by Jose Escalante on net, but Dior leapt in the air to knock the ball over the net.

Montreal’s Jorge Correales received a yellow card in the 35th minute after he slid to get the ball, but instead tackled Calgary’s Julian Buscher in the process.

With time winding down in the first half, Buscher had another scoring chance for Calgary but his hard shot hit Montreal’s Bacary Sagna right in the face.

In injury time, Zator booted a shot from 12 yards out just over the net before time expired.

The Impact had a good chance to extend their lead in the 64th minute when Lassi Lappalainen received a through ball from Maxi Urruti before letting go a shot that went wide of the net.

Calgary finished with just three shots on target but 18 shots overall as Montreal put up a solid defensive effort.