Diaz does the trick to lead PFC past York

Alejandro Diaz, fitting for a player who has been a natural in the Canadian Premier League, scored a natural hat trick as Pacific FC came from behind twice to record a 4-2 victory over York United on Friday evening in the Greater Toronto Area.

The former Mexico U-20 and U-23 player and Liga MX pro moved his season-leading Golden Boot total atop the CPL to 10 goals. It was the fourth hattrick in CPL history and Diaz has two of them in his career.

“I was happy to get the goals but I was most happy with our [overall] performance,” said Diaz.

“Everyone was working hard and we were supporting each other. We are finishing our opportunities, which is good for the team. I have to thank my teammates. They are the ones who got the ball to me.”

It was PFC’s second-consecutive win after a bad patch.

“We needed to get our confidence back,” said Diaz, who noted he scored the three goals on his wife’s birthday.

PFC got off to a disastrous start with former Canada U-20 and Barca Residency Academy prospect Ronan Kratt scoring in the first minute. The Tridents pulled level when Cape Verdecapped Gianni dos Santos was brought down in the box at 42 minutes during one of his several darting forays. Diaz coolly went lower left corner on the ensuing penalty kick.

Osaze De Rosario, son of 81-time capped second-leading career Canada scorer Dwayne De Rosario, put York United ahead again at 49 minutes with his proud dad watching from the stands.

“Going behind early in the game and then again in the second half is never easy. But we didn’t lose ourselves, or get too low, but just kept going,” said PFC head coach James Merriman.

Diaz was at it again to level the match 2-2 at 63 minutes by finishing off a standout threeway play involving Sean Young and Amer Didic. The winner came off Diaz’s boot at 70 minutes through a crafty dos Santos dummy. The ever-lurking dos Santos, dangerous all night, closed out scoring at 87 minutes.

PFC moved to 7-4-5 in league play. The first two league meetings between the Tridents and York United were scoreless draws. PFC and York United close out their season account Sept. 3 at Starlight Stadium.

York United is mentored by Victoria-raised Martin Nash, the former Whitecaps pro and CONCACAF Gold Cup champion capped 38 times for Canada. Nash has York United at 2-8-5 in league in his first tenure as a CPL head coach after a successful three-season stint as assistant coach and technical director with Cavalry FC.

The Tridents return to Starlight Stadium next Friday night to play league-leading Cavalry FC in the annual Pride game.