‘Relentless’ AFC Toronto set to battle and host ‘hard-nosed’ Vancouver Rise FC in 1st NSL Final

Soccer·NewThe first Northern Super League Final will never be forgotten, regardless of Saturday’s outcome. But it could be more memorable if host AFC Toronto and Vancouver Rise FC match the excitement of their respective paths to the Canadian professional women’s soccer championship.Pro women’s soccer clubs enter Saturday match after season series split, dramatic semifinalsCBC Sports · Posted: Nov 13, 2025 11:30 AM EST | Last Updated: 1 hour agoListen to this articleEstimated 6 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence. From left: AFC Toronto’s Esther Okoronkwo and fellow attacker Jessica De Filippo of Vancouver Rise FC are key offensive players entering Saturday’s inaugural NSL Final at BMO Field in Toronto. The teams split their five-game regular-season meetings with each team finishing 2-2-1. (CBC Sports composite: Arlyn McAdorey, Spencer Colby/Canadian Press/File)The first Northern Super League Final will never be forgotten, regardless of Saturday’s outcome. But it could be more memorable if host AFC Toronto and Vancouver Rise FC match the excitement of their respective paths to the Canadian professional women’s soccer championship. After Vancouver clinched a playoff berth in its final regular-season game with a gritty 1-1 draw in Halifax on Sept. 27, attacker Latifah Abdu scored twice in a 2-1 win over visiting Ottawa Rapid FC to open a two-legged semifinal on Nov. 4. From there, Rise FC prevailed 4-3 in a dramatic second leg at TD Place in Ottawa four days later when midfielder Sofia Hagman scored in the sixth round of penalty kicks after Vancouver attacker Holly Ward scored to force a shootout, with the aggregate score from the two semifinal matches at 3-3. Rise FC were fresh off an 11-6-8 regular season, highlighted by an eight-match unbeaten run through the summer, and placed third of six teams. “We’re such a hard-nosed team,” Jessika Cowart, a midfielder with international experience for the Philippines and club stints in Sweden and Australia, told the Vancouver-based Georgia Straight newspaper in early October. “We literally put our bodies on the line for each other. That’s our identity — team first. And it’s not just words. It’s real.” AFC Toronto finished atop the standings at 16-6-3 for 51 points, 12 more than Vancouver. It carries a five-game win streak into Saturday’s battle for the Diana B. Matheson Cup at 2 p.m. at BMO Field, and boasts eight wins and a draw over its past nine outings. The NSL Final will be broadcast nationally on CBC and live streamed at CBC Sports and CBC Gem on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET. Match time is 2 p.m.On Monday, Toronto booked a spot in the Final with a 4-1 victory over visiting Montreal Roses at snow-covered York Lions Stadium, a match rescheduled from the previous day due to inclement weather and significant snowfall in the Toronto area.Esther Okoronkwo, the 26-year-old attacker who moved to Texas from Nigeria as a young teenager with her sister, scored three times in the first 26 minutes for an insurmountable 3-1 lead. WATCH | Rise FC blank AFC Toronto at BMO Field in August:Jessica De Filippo lifts Vancouver Rise FC over AFC TorontoVancouver Rise FC defeats AFC Toronto 1-0 with Jessica De Filippo’s goal in the 46th minute. ‘People doubted us early on’On Nov. 1, it was goalkeeper Sierra Cota-Yarde’s time to shine as the 22-year-old Toronto native and her teammates blanked Montreal 2-0 in the first leg. “I’d describe us as relentless,” midfielder Nikki Small, of Pickering, Ont., said in a story on the team’s website. “Everyone knows we didn’t start the season the way we wanted [with one win in four games], and people doubted us early on. But we bounced back and have been climbing ever since. “We’re relentless in how we press, defend, score, and celebrate — it’s who we are as a team.” Toronto hasn’t lost since Aug. 17, a 1-0 setback to Vancouver before 7,771 fans at BMO Field, where attacker Jessica De Filippo scored the lone goal. “What comes to mind is the rematch of [that Aug. 17] game,” said Toronto head coach Marko Milanović. “We really wanted desperately to go back to that field because that’s one stadium that we haven’t won this year. Hopefully, we can do it on Saturday.” Vancouver will also be seeking redemption following a 7-0 drubbing on Sept. 13 at the hands of Toronto, which became the first NSL club to clinch a playoff berth on that day while halting Rise FC’s four-game win streak and eight-game unbeaten run. Kaylee Hunter and Okoronkwo paced the offence with two goals apiece. “Esther … she’s a big-time player who always delivers in big moments. Hopefully we’ll see more of that in the final,” Milanović said. Vancouver boasts a balanced attack. Abdu leads the way with 11 goals, followed by De Filippo and Ward with seven each. Midfielder Quinn, the two-time Canadian Olympic medallist who joined Rise FC after six seasons with the National Women’s Soccer League’s Seattle Reign FC, has six. WATCH | Okoronkwo scores twice in AFC Toronto’s 7-0 rout of Rise FC:AFC Toronto scores 7 in a rout of Vancouver RiseToronto got nice goals from Esther Okoronkwo, Kaylee Hunter and Sarah Stratigakis in the 7-0 victory over Vancouver. The win was the largest deficit in an NSL game this season.’We’ve got good depth’: Rise FC president“It’s been an exciting season. It felt like a slow start, but we really found our form in the second third of the season,” club president Sinead King told the Georgia Straight last month. “We don’t rely on any single player. We’ve got good depth.” Each team won twice in the season series, and there was a 1-1 draw in their first meeting on May 11. The NSL Final is expected to generate over $12 million in economic activity and attract more than 20,000 people, according to the Ontario government, which is investing $180,000 as part of the province’s plan to break down barriers and increase women’s participation in sport. The game will cap a four-day festival celebrating women’s sports, with community events, concerts and conferences.  It’s been a little over seven months since Quinn scored on a penalty kick, helping the Vancouver to a 1-0 victory over the Calgary Wild in the inaugural NSL regular-season game. Matheson, the league’s co-founder, has described the campaign in baseball terms as a ‘home run” after more than 275,000 people purchased tickets to see players from 19 countries. Now, there’s talk a seventh team could join the league in 2027, with a focus on Central and Western Canada. “The hope was if we build it, they will come,” said Matheson, the former Canadian national team midfielder. “And the biggest question was would the players come, would the fans come? And it’s been an overwhelming yes. We’ve been so pleased with the quality of play. “We want Saturday to be a celebration of women’s pro sport in Canada.”