Chisholm scores lone goal as AFC Toronto tops Montreal Roses for first NSL title

OTTAWA – Olivia Chisholm’s first professional goal proved to be extremely timely.

The AFC Toronto midfielder’s 39th-minute goal stood as the winner, lifting Toronto past the Montreal Roses and to its first Diana B. Matheson Cup in Northern Super League action on Saturday.

“It feels really special to score my first goal in this final,” admitted Chisholm. “Pretty good time to score and to celebrate with all my teammates and coaching staff. Felt really good.”

Just 17 years old, Chisholm, who wore a championship cap and ski goggles atop her head, isn’t even old enough to have a celebratory drink legally with her teammates, but shared there was zero per cent beers in the locker room.

The win provided Toronto with redemption after finishing first overall last season but losing to Vancouver in the final. This year, Toronto finished third, but advanced to the final after beating Ottawa 8-2 on aggregate in the semifinals.

“I mean, obviously last year didn’t go our way, so this year means so much,” said Nikayla Small. “Shoutout to Olivia Chisholm for scoring that beautiful goal because that’s what really got us here today.”

In the opening half, Montreal had the better chances but Toronto capitalized with Chisholm’s goal.

Lauren Rowe beat her defender in the box and sent a pass from near the endline to Chisholm, who had some space near the top of the box, and she side-footed a shot past the outstretched arms of Gabrielle Lambert.

“I saw Lauren had the ball, and she took a bit of a bigger touch,” said Chisholm. “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 came into the final riding a 12-game unbeaten streak since Maryse Bard-Martel took over as interim head coach in August. They finished first overall to win their first Supporters’ Shield, but just couldn’t find a way to beat Toronto keeper Sabrina D’Angelo.

“I’m so proud of them,” said Bard-Martel of her team. “Maybe it took us a little longer than we’d hoped to get into the game, but what’s most important is we got into the game. We finished the first half with a good play…and how the girls entered the second half we created enough chances to go and equalize that game.”

Trailing 1-0, Montreal came out hard and fast in the second half and generated a couple chances early on. Lisa Pechersky challenged D’Angelo and moments later D’Angelo had to handle an Elyse Bennett header. Pechersky had another chance in the 73rd minute trying to go back post but D’Angelo anticipated it and made the save.

“We didn’t want to have any regrets from a player and staff perspective,” Martel-Bard said. “We wanted to ensure we gave it all we could and I have no doubt everyone gave it all they could. In sport there’s a winner and there’s another team on the other side of things, but I have no doubt we will learn from this.”

Toronto gave full credit to Montreal for its performance and admitted there wasn’t much that separated the two teams on the pitch.

“Little bounces here and there,” said AFC Toronto head coach Marco Milanovic. “There wasn’t much in this game. You saw how tight it was. I think these are the two best teams in the league and you saw it today. I thought it was great for the league as well to have a game like we did today.”

The Roses take some comfort in the season they put together and say they’re determined to learn from the experience and use it to their advantage next season.

“Things didn’t go the way we wanted today and it’s difficult,” said Montreal midfielder Charlotte Bilbault. “We can be proud of the season we had, our last few games and we’re going to lean on that next year when we get started because we can build off what we learned.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2026.