Unbeaten back line faces a Wild FC side in search of answers

Three matches, three wins, no goals conceded. The Roses head to Calgary on Saturday with the best record in the league and a chance to become the first team in the young history of the Northern Super League to open a season with four straight wins. It will also be a second trip to McMahon Stadium in under a month, following the 2-0 win in the season opener. 

Sunday’s match in Toronto showed just how much depth this group has built. The score was still 0-0 past the hour mark when Robert Rositoiu made his move, sending Evelyn Badu on for her first NSL minutes. The Ghanaian international didn’t need long to make her mark: she delivered the assist on Elyse Bennett’s game-winner in the 88th minute. A complete answer to a fair question, namely how this team would respond when it found itself in a less comfortable spot than in its first two outings. 

That might be the defining feature of this start of the season: contributions are coming from everywhere. Bennett leads the NSL in scoring with four goals, but it’s the collective that has carried the Roses since kickoff. Anna Karpenko, Lucy Cappadona, and Mégane Sauvé haven’t left the pitch in three matches. Lisa Pechersky and Chloe Minas continue to drive the attack, each with an assist to their name. Charlotte Bilbaut, a starter in every match so far, has given the midfield the rhythm we were talking about back in April. And at the back, the defensive picture remains intact: zero goals against, three clean sheets for Karpenko, who made seven saves in Toronto to preserve the latest one. 

The opposition

Calgary Wild FC come into this one with an 0-0-2 record, sitting fifth in the table. The Wild are still searching for their footing in the early going, after a home loss to the Roses on opening night and a 5-2 defeat in Ottawa on May 2. Two weeks have passed since their last match, and it will be interesting to see what effect that long layoff has had on the group.

The April 25 meeting at McMahon Stadium set the tone for the season: Bennett scored both goals, Karpenko earned her first clean sheet, and Montreal left town with the three points in hand. Calgary will be looking for a different response this time around. 

Things to watch

How will Rositoiu set up his starting eleven? That’s the first question. With Badu now available and a Bennett-Boychuk-Pechersky trio that already has its chemistry, the attacking options keep growing. The rotations will be interesting, and second-half substitutions could once again make the difference, as they did in Toronto.

For Calgary, the challenge is finding a way through a defence that hasn’t broken in 270 minutes. The Roses, for their part, have a clear objective: protect the goalless streak, keep the rotations going, and head home with a fourth straight win.

Broadcast

Saturday, May 16, 2026 - 5:00 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. MT - McMahon Stadium, Calgary

The match will be broadcast live on RDS* and TSN in Canada. International broadcast on ESPN+.

*If Game 2 of the PWHL Final runs past its scheduled time on Saturday, the Roses match will initially air on RDS Info before moving to RDS.