Each year the Foot Soldiers vote on their MVP of the Season. This was originally done each year for the Foothillls PDL (now USL2) team. Once Cavalry started in 2019, the award moved to our MVP for their Canadiain Premier League Season.
2023 Daan Klomp
Daan Klomp had a remarkable year in 2023, culminating in winning the League MVP, League Defender of the year and was named to the CPL Best XI. In a year that saw many injuries in the Cavalry backline, Daan was the the player that held the backline together, playing every minute of every game of the season. Whether it be a timely tackle or a timely header to score a goal, Daan always seemed to be in the right place at the right time.
2022 José Escalante
2021 Karifa Yao
Karifa Yao joined Cavalry on loan from CF Montreal at the beginning of the 2021 season and made a significant impact for Cavalry right away. Over 26 matches, Yao showed a solid presence on the backline, continually breaking up the opponent’s transition and making many solid tackles against some of the league’s best-attacking players. Karifa had a header goal in the playoff semi-finals that sent the game into extra-time against the eventual league champions Pacific FC. He finished in the top five of the championship in almost every defensive category, including clearances, duels won and aerial duels won. His physicality and willingness to block shots made him a favourite of the supporters and led to a convincing win in the voting for Foot Soldier’s Player of the Year.
2020 Mohammed Farsi
Mohammed Farsi started with a pre-season trial with Cavalry FC after four other teams declined and by the end of the Island Games ended up being the Canadian Premier League U21 player of the year. Due to the different type of season in 2020, the Player of the Year was selected by the highest total of individual player of the game votes. Mo was the only one to receive multiple player of the game votes and definitely had the goal of the year for the team.
In addition to his Canadian Premier League U-21 player of the year, Mo also won Canada Soccer’s Futsol Player of the Year as well.
2019 Marco Carducci
Marco Carducci became the first player ever to win the Foot Soldiers MVP twice, with his back-to-back win in the 2019 season. During the season Carducci led all keepers in the league picking up the Golden Glove award, won a car as the VW premier performer in the Canadian Premier League and was the first player ever to be called up to the Canadiain National Team from the CanPL. Marco led the team Spring and Fall championships as well as held the Vancouver Whitecaps of the United States first division (MLS) to one goal over two games.
2018 Marco Carducci
Elijah Adekugbe, Moses Danto, Nico Pasquotti, Dominick Zator were all Western Conference All Stars this year with the team winning the PDL title, but Marco Carducci came out on top of the voting due to his impressive clean sheet streak on the way to the final.
Marco also won the PDL Goalkeeper of the Year and was on the All-League Team and All-Western Conference Team
2017 Dean Northover
Dean Northover won the 2017 Player of the year award for being an absolute Beast on the pitch and contributing to another fantastic season for Foothills.
A player in the original 2015 Foothills F.C. P.D.L. side, Dean was a Foot Soldiers favourite. He was so popular that the famous “Dean Machine” chant was created because it exemplified exactly the kind of player he was.
Dean was always in the running for player of the year for the first two seasons, and his hard work finally paid off in 2017 when he walked away with the award.
2016 Dylan Powley
The 2016 Supporters MVP was a hotly contested debate, with multiple players receiving votes. In the end, Powley’s penalty kick save in the second half against Seattle Sounders U-23 during the Northwest Division playoffs propelled him to the MVP award, as well as a long playoff run.
It should also be noted that Dylon’s parents were fantastic people to get to know over the course of the 2016 season – Dylon’s mom remains a Cavalry Fan even though he now plays for FC Edmonton.
2015 Elija Adekugbe
Elijah could not make the awards night in 2015, but his proud parents Ben and Abby were able to accept the award on his behalf. Elijah was not only the Golden Boot and Foothills MVP winner, but our choice for Supporters MVP by unanimous decision.
It should also be noted that this photo spurred the “Your dad is James Bond” chant.