Montréal Roses FC begin their second NSL campaign Saturday night at McMahon Stadium
The Roses step onto the pitch at McMahon Stadium on Saturday with a clear target: build on what worked in 2025, and fix what didn’t.
What worked was the back of the house. In the NSL’s first season, no team gave up fewer goals than Montreal. Stéphanie Hill finished as the top-scoring defender in the league and earned a spot on the NSL Best XI. Co-captain Mégane Sauvé ranked 3rd in the circuit in tackles. The Roses qualified for the playoffs in their very first season, bowing out in the semi-finals to eventual finalists AFC Toronto.
The goal for 2026 is to go further. Saturday is the first step.
A renewed squad
Six new players will wear the Roses crest in 2026. The most decorated of them, Lisa Pechersky, arrives as a freshly minted NSL champion: she lifted the Diana B. Matheson Cup with Vancouver Rise FC, contributing four goals and four assists across 27 appearances. Evelyn Badu, the Ghanaian international and a former CAF Women’s Champions League Player of the Tournament, brings an international pedigree to the midfield. Elyse Bennett joined the Roses from the NWSL’s Orlando Pride to bolster the attack, while South Korean Hanbin makes the jump to the professional ranks following a decorated collegiate career in Asia. Defender Anne-Valérie Seto, a Montreal native, returns home after a season with Halifax. And 16-year-old Marilou Harvey gets her first taste of the professional stage.
Robert Rositoiu returns for his second season at the helm, with Marinette Pichon continuing as sporting director. A stable core at the top, fresh legs below.
The opponent
Calgary Wild FC closed their inaugural season in fifth place with a 9-14-2 record under head coach Lydia Bedford, falling just short of the playoffs. The Wild’s offseason has been active: American international goalkeeper Katelin Talbert, with professional stops in Portugal, England, and Sweden, arrives to anchor the net. Of particular interest to Roses fans: former Rose Allie Hess, who made 23 appearances for Montreal in 2025, has traded the red and blue for the Wild’s colours. She’ll face her former club for the first time Saturday night.
The two sides met five times last year. Montreal took three of those meetings, including a 5-0 statement win at McMahon Stadium on September 13, the club’s largest road victory of the season.
What to watch
Anna Karpenko returns between the posts after starting every one of her 20 appearances in 2025. The Canadian was tested often and rarely blinked: six clean sheets are a strong line for a rookie season, and her calm under pressure against a Calgary side that will press for shots from range is a matchup worth watching.
Up top, all eyes on Chaerim. The Korean international arrived in Montreal last August and produced three goals in ten starts down the stretch. She then spent some of the last six weeks at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup, where she scored against the host Matildas and, in the semi-final against Japan, delivered one of the tournament’s signature moments: her 78th-minute strike was the only goal Japan conceded across five matches and 28 goals scored. Korea is now on its way to the 2027 World Cup, and Chaerim is back in Montreal, hungry for more.
In midfield, Charlotte Bilbault, the 35-year-old French international with 56 senior caps, stays the metronome. And Perchersky, alongside her, gives Rositoiu one of the most experienced central pairs in the league. Co-captain Tanya Boychuk, whose seven goals and four assists made her the Roses’ most productive returning attacker, rounds out a forward line that should have Calgary’s new-look back four working early.
Broadcast
Saturday, April 25, 2026 - 7:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. MT McMahon Stadium, Calgary
Live on TSN (English) and RDS (French) in Canada. International streaming on ESPN+.