OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Teenager Olivia Chisholm scored her first goal in the 39th minute and AFC Toronto went on to win the Northern Super League’s Diana B. Matheson Cup championship with a 1-0 victory over the Montreal Roses.
Toronto finished first in the standings last season but fell to the Vancouver Rise in the league’s first championship game. This season Toronto advanced to the title game by downing Ottawa 8-2 on aggregate in the two-leg semifinals.
“I mean, obviously last year didn’t go our way, so this year means so much,” said Toronto midfielder Nikayla Small. “Shoutout to Olivia Chisholm for scoring that beautiful goal because that’s what really got us here today.”
Chisholm, 17, took a pass from Lauren Rowe and beat Roses goalkeeper Gabrielle Lambert from the middle of the box.
“I saw Lauren had the ball, and she took a bit of a bigger touch,” Chisholm said. “But I know with her speed that she was going to get there, and their whole backline kind of just dropped off so I knew that the space was there for me. And as it left my foot I kind of had a good feeling that it was going to go in, and then it did.”
The Roses finished atop the standings and won the Supporters Shield, riding a 12-match unbeaten streak going into the final at TD Place in Ottawa.
Montreal advanced to the final with a 5-2 victory on aggregate against Vancouver.
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