Toronto FC advanced to the semifinals of the 2024 Canadian Championship with Tuesday night’s 8-1 second leg victory over League1 Quebec champions CS Saint-Laurent.

Deandre Kerr scored a first half hat-trick, touching in a pair of Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty crosses from the left in the 12th and 14th minute before latching onto a through-ball from Derrick Etienne Jr. in the 43rd minute.

Cassius Mailula made it 4-0 in the 50th minute, Etienne converted from the penalty spot in the 56th minute, and an own-goal off Saint-Laurent defender Nathan Goulet followed before Kerr added his fourth of the night in the 72nd minute, this time played in by TFC II midfielder Andrei Dumitru, one of three call-ups to see action on the night.

Prince Owusu would score the eighth of the night in the 80th minute, turning in a pass from Federico Bernardeschi after Deybi Flores played him in down the right. The visitors would pull one back in the 89th minute through Rickson Aristilde drawing a round of applause from the home fans.

Taking the series 11-1 on aggregate, TFC will learn their opponent for the next round when the draw is held by Canada Soccer following the conclusion of the rest of the quarterfinals next week.

Toronto were full of praise for their semi-professional opponents post-match.

“I just had a good chat with a coach after. They did really well at their place and they came in here tonight again with a transitional strategy which was really effective,” said John Herdman. “They knew we would be playing with three centre-backs and they matched a lot of pace up against our centre-backs tonight and had some great opportunities.”

“The scoreline is what it is, but they took some big steps,” he credited. “Getting their first goal – inside I was actually happy for them – I thought they'd done enough to get a goal tonight. They forced Luka [Gavran] into some saves, hit the post.”

“For us, we had our focus tonight as well,” Herdman added.

“Make sure that we got minutes in players that needed minutes, we got the result, and we can move onto this weekend against Cincinnati without any injuries. It was a good night.”

The eight goals scored was a record for TFC and Kerr became the first player to ever score four goals in a match for the club.

“Wow, I didn't know that,” reacted the forward to that fact. “That's obviously good to hear. Scoring four goals, I'm happy; I was happy I was able to contribute to our objective and just now look forward to this weekend.”

Herdman had laid down a marker for his side before kickoff.

“As a team we came into this game with an objective, which was to set a team goal-scoring record,” relayed Kerr. “I was personally laser-focused on that, getting that objective.”

“When I would get opportunities, [I was] just laser-focused and concentrated on finishing and putting the ball in the back of the net over and over,” he added. “I was happy I was able to do that and we were able to get our target.”

With a three-goal lead from leg one, in the midst of a gruelling stretch, and with a big game against FC Cincinnati on Saturday, it would be easy to let standards drop on the night. Herdman counteracts such risks with detailed goals.

“I always try and make sure that there’s a focus for these matches,” he explained. “I say to these lads, always, that there’s moments that will be presented where you get a chance to make history, write your name in a record book.”

“And that was it tonight,” Herdman highlighted. “I had to match [Saint-Laurent’s] motivation tonight. Proud of DK [Kerr] because his commitment to that has given his first career hat-trick and first four goals in a match. It was exciting to see and that's the laser focus.”

“That first finish he had – that was top level, the volley and the delivery from Jahkeele,” he applauded. “We had to push that out because I knew they were dangerous – they're a dangerous team. If we weren't laser focused on scoring goals, they could have easily nicked one and bunkered.”

On the heels of a pair of frustrating losses against NYCFC and Nashville SC earlier in the month, Toronto have won their last two by a combined score of 13-2.

“Just enjoying football at the minute, really enjoying it,” smiled Herdman. “The [lack of] clean-sheets – I've got Jason deVos in my ear a bit – he would like to see that clean-sheet be kept and certainly he’ll be driving the defenders, but I’ve got to tip my hat to lads like DK. When he comes in, he's been laser focused on getting his job done. We didn't have Bernardeschi out there for 90 minutes or [Lorenzo] Insigne, but I just can't wait to see this whole team playing together.”

“There is still levels to TFC,” promised Herdman.

“And I'm hoping we can find them in the next three/four weeks and keep pushing.”