Vancouver Rise FC look to upset AFC Toronto in the NSL Final

The Northern Super League Final will kickoff on Saturday at BMO Field in Toronto when Vancouver Rise FC take on AFC Toronto for the right to hoist the inaugural Diana B. Matheson Cup. AFC Toronto topped the NSL table with a 16-6-3 regular season record and earned a spot in the NSL final with a 6-1 semifinal aggregate win over Montreal Roses FC. Rise FC booked their spot in the final thanks to a penalty shootout win over Ottawa Rapid FC.

AFC Toronto and Rise FC split five matches during the regular season, each winning twice and earning a draw. AFC Toronto picked up a 7-0 win in the last match between the two teams on September 13. Vancouver’s Jessica De Filippo was shown a pair of first half yellow cards.

“Toronto is a strong team,” Rise FC Coach Anja Heiner-Møller told reporters in Vancouver earlier this week. “It’s no coincidence they ended up first, but we have had good games against Toronto. I think you need to note that the game was with one player less more than a half. We know that with this team we have to stay focused for the whole time.

The stakes are high, a championship trophy is on the line, but it’s just another match for Rise FC. Striker Latifah Abdu and her teammates aren’t letting the moment get too big. Rise FC are taking everything in stride with a calm mindset.

“We’ve been prepping for a long time,” Abdu said. “We feel ready and also the group’s cohesion is what makes us a good team. We are able to connect on the field. We don’t need Anja to motivate us, we’re really motivated, disciplined. We’re really really ready for this game. We’re going to go in, play our game, and do what we like to do on the field. Hopefully we’ll be able to come out with a win.”

AFC Toronto led the regular season with 42 goals scored and an +18 goal differential. If Rise FC are going to pull off an upset in front of a pro Toronto crowd it’s imperative that Heiner-Møller’s squad take the home crowd out of the match and prevent any momentum and an early AFC Toronto goal.

“They win even though they’re not dominant on the ball,” Heiner-Møller said. “They can still turn games around. The game could be that we could be on the ball, but they’re still dangerous on the other side. We need to make sure we have a high focus the whole game. We can’t give up anything in behind. We need to be clinical when we have chances. I’m confident we can build and find those chances because we’ve done really well the last games.”

Heiner-Møller knows that the pressure is squarely on an AFC Toronto team that has yet to score a goal or win a match (0-2-0) at BMO Field. The last team to beat AFC Toronto was Rise FC in a 1-0 match at BMO Field on August 17.

There’s something special about being the first to win a championship. AFC Toronto and Rise FC have a unique opportunity to write their names in history as the inaugural NSL champion.

That moment isn’t lost on Rise FC midfielder, Nikki Stanton.

“To be the champion in the very first season would be amazing because you know every single club is going through trials and tribulations,” Stanton told The Equalizer in Vancouver. “I think our team has had a lot of ups and down this year, but the one thing that we’ve maintained is that our locker room has been amazing and we are always fighting for each other. Regardless of what anybody throws at us, we always have each other. I know that it would mean the absolute world to us.”

Rise FC are a team that has a chip on their shoulder. Vancouver was the lone NSL team without a player named to the NSL team of the season as voted on by players.

Are Rise FC not liked throughout the league?

“Honestly I don’t know,” Stanton said. “I feel like we’re very nice and I think we’re a really nice bunch of girls. I’m not really sure where that’s coming from, but it kind of feels like that. I feel like we’re nice. I have heard rumours that they know we have a really good setup with all these facilities, maybe that could upset people, I don’t really know.”

Stanton and her teammates are using it as fuel to the fire and they’d love to win an NSL championship despite not having a player named to the NSL team of the season.