November 1, 2025
AFC Toronto defeated the Montreal Roses to take a series lead
On a bitterly cold November day in Laval, the Montreal Roses hosted AFC Toronto in the first of two semi-final games following the inaugural Northern Super League season.
The game was played to a half-capacity crowd that was almost certainly the result of the STM public transit strike that saw a total shut down of bus and metro services throughout the island of Montreal. Stade Boreale already isn’t an easy grounds to reach, and with public transportation no longer an option, surely a good portion of the cities soccer fans were left out, unable to attend and cheer on their team.
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In fact, there were five major sporting events around the island of Montreal, and nearby Laval, that will have been seriously effected by these strikes. The Montreal Canadiens host the Ottawa Senators tonight, while the Laval Rocket are in action at Place Bell, there are two big football games happening today too, as the Concordia Stingers face the Montreal Carrabin’s in RSEQ playoff action and the Montreal Alouettes host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the CFL Eastern Semi-Finals – plus the first playoff match in Montreal Roses franchise history.
All marred by a strategic public transport strike that only harms the hard working class citizens of Montreal, who work all week and look forward to sporting events on the weekends.
Tonight’s match-up felt fitting, as these two squads met right here, on this pitch to kick off the inaugural season of the Northern Super League, and here they were, facing off in the first playoff match in league history as well.
Just eight minutes into the game, AFC Toronto found a way to open the scoring. Nikayla Small found a ball that was bouncing around inside the box, having been crossed in but was never under control. Small made a desperate spinning move to get near the wayward ball, striking it while on one knee and able to lob it into the far corner of the goal mouth, passed an outstretched Roses FC goalkeeper. Anna Karpenko had no chance and getting a glove on the ball, and AFC Toronto took the early lead.
The Roses had several great chances at finding the equalizer, but AFC Toronto goalkeeper Sierra Cota-Yarde was up for the challenge. Montreal were finding great pressure, which caused AFC Toronto to make mistakes, but their plans always came unraveled at the hands of Cota-Yarde who was the difference maker throughout the first half of play.
While the play was largely dominated by the Roses, AFC Toronto did earn a couple of great chances to increase their lead, that were dealt with by Karpenko. Both goalkeepers were forced into keeping their sides in the fight throughout the match. Still, the Roses were applying a great deal of pressure on the AFC players.
Chaerim Kang had a golden chance to pull her side level, when she stole the ball off an AFC Toronto defender, made a slick sideways move to pull her clear of everyone but the goalkeeper, and slotted a beautiful shot low towards the far post that somehow missed the goal. The stadium erupted in a collective sigh, as everyone around the grounds was sure Kang had pulled the game level.
In the 5oth minute, AFC Toronto thought they had found their brace when Small fed a ball into an open Sarah Stratigakis who then fired the ball into the top left corner of the goal, but the goal was ruled offside and the goal disallowed. The Montreal Roses had gotten lucky. They were pushing hard to find a goal of their own, and were caught up field.
Tanya Boychuk came on as a substitute and immediately made her presence felt, setting up fellow-sub Félicia Roy who let fly on a long-range homing missile of a shot that was just barely pushed over the net by a diving Cota-Yarde.
Just five minutes later, Kaylee Hunter picked up a headed pass, made some slippery footwork and found the room to get off a low and hard shot that rolled furiously into the far left bottom corner, beyond a diving Karpenko, and AFC Toronto had increase their lead to two, with just twenty minutes left to play.
Hunter then proceeded to celebrate by pretending to hit a home run out of the park, which was surely an homage to the Toronto Blue Jays who were playing the LA Dodgers later in the day in the MLS World Series.
“I’m happy we scored early because the conditions weren’t the greatest,” Small said. “It was cold, it was windy. The wind wasn’t in our favor. To get that early goal and settle our nerves, it was really important for us to settle down.”
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Ottawa Rapid FC will take on the Vancouver Rise in the the other semifinal, with the winner of that series playing either AFC Toronto or the Montreal Roses FC on November 15th at BMO Field in Toronto.
While the path ahead is not going to be an easy one, there is still a chance for the Montreal Roses, who will need to outscore AFC Toronto by at least two goals on November 9th. This is a two-match aggregate series, which means every goal counts!
