The Montréal Roses made it three straight wins on Friday, beating Calgary Wild FC 2-0 at McMahon Stadium. Lucy Cappadona and Hailey Whitaker scored their first goals of the season four minutes apart, both from corners. Montreal move to 7-2-3 (24 points). Next up at home: Thursday, July 23 against AFC Toronto, a match that should mark Mimi Alidou’s debut. Tickets are on sale at en.rosesmtl.ca/tickets.
The script could hardly have been better. In the 29th minute, from a Tanya Boychuk corner, Cappadona opened the scoring - her first goal of the season, after starting all 11 matches of the campaign. Four minutes later, from a scramble that came off a Chloe Minas corner, Whitaker doubled the lead. Two corners, two defenders, and it was settled inside half an hour.
The rest of the evening was one-way traffic. The Roses dominated possession, shots, corners and crosses. Calgary were forced into 35 clearances. In goal, Anna Karpenko did the rest, recording her fifth clean sheet of the season.
Calgary, bottom of the table, had taken their only two points of the season off the Roses, in draws in May and June. This time there was no room for doubt.
MATCH STATISTICS
- Possession: Montreal 63% – Calgary 37%
- Shots: 18 for Montreal (5 on target) – 4 for Calgary (3 on target)
- Completed passes: 521 for Montreal – 314 for Calgary
- Corners: 9 for Montreal – 1 for Calgary
- Yellow cards: 0 for Montreal – 0 for Calgary
Venue: McMahon Stadium
Referee: Isabelle Duclos
Assistant Referees: Marie-Han Gagnon, Daniel Boudreau
"Calgary had given us trouble on multiple occasions this season, and we didn’t want a repeat. We were switched on fro the whistle, we were sharp on our set pieces, and we gave nothing away at the back. We had a lot of complete performances in service of the group - from the players who started the match from those who finished it. That’s how you have to win these games." — Robert Rositoiu, Montréal Roses Head Coach.
The Roses return to Stade Boréale on Thursday, July 23 at 7 p.m. to host AFC Toronto.
Tickets for upcoming home matches are on sale now from $28 at en.rosesmtl.ca/tickets.