TORONTO —
Luka Gavran doesn’t remember scoring a goal as a goalkeeper.
There may have been a penalty kick in his past, but never a goal as dramatic as the one he netted on Wednesday.
With the visiting Philadelphia Union in front after a goal in the 89th minute, Gavran raced down the pitch to join his teammates push for the equalizer at BMO Field.
After a cross went through the box, Toronto midfielder Alfonso Coello lassoed the ball and placed a perfect pass back into the box at the six-foot-six Gavran, who headed it home for a heroic tying goal in the sixth minute of injury time.
The tally saw the game end in a 3-3 draw.
“I know people are saying, ‘Oh, you’re lying.' But a win is a win. I would rather win 100 per cent," Gavran said of the feat.
The 25-year-old Canadian 'keeper thinks the last time he scored was when he was 14. He was a striker back then.
With the outing against the Union (1-6-2) in injury time, he began looking at the bench.
Toronto head coach Robin Fraser never has a plan for this situation. He’s seen the goalkeeper move forward “umpteen” times, and never has he seen a 'keeper score.
Gavran first saw backup netminder Willie Yarbrough waving him up. Then goalkeeper coach Simon Eaddy joined. So Gavran raced into the fray.
“The first ball came in, and it was like, 'OK, he's gonna pull it there,'” Gavran said. “Then the ball came back out to Alonso, and it was just, 'OK, get back in the box.'
“I think I'm the biggest target there, so I just jumped, and the ball went kind of off my head, off my shoulder, but it went in. That's all that matters.”
Fraser told his 'keeper that he has one more goal to tie the two Fraser scored as a top defender is his 17-year career.
For a player who scored his first goal in more than a decade, Gavran performed a memorable no-flaw two-knee slide.
“We do a lot of (goal celebrations) in training, for a joke,” he said. “If you score a nice goal, we always celebrate stuff. So I would always knee slide. I'm like, 'This is a perfect moment to knee slide.' I would have taken my jersey off, but my gloves are on, so it would have been awkward.”
Gavran was also pleased to see his friend and longtime teammate, Kobe Franklin, of East York, Ont., score for the second game in a row.
“This is a game we’re probably going to talk about the rest of our lives,” Gavran said.
The draw extended Toronto’s unbeaten streak to seven matches (3-0-4) after the club dropped its first two outings of the season. Toronto also has not been defeated at home in its last 13 matches (4-0-9) dating back to June 25.
“I’m pretty sure I'm greyer now than three hours ago,” Fraser said.
“I've talked so much about this team maturing and becoming a team because we have good players. That's one thing to have good players. It's another thing to have those good players meld and become a team, and I feel like we are getting closer and closer to that every week.”
UP NEXT
TFC continue its 10-game homestand against Atlanta United on Saturday. The 10-week stint at BMO Field includes a Canada Championship match against Atlético Ottawa on May 5.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 22, 2026.
Tim Wharnsby, The Canadian Press
