It wasn’t a banner performance for AFC Toronto’s banner — or Supporters’ Shield — day, but as they say, all wins count the same.
Toronto ran the first half on Sunday, but it was the Roses who opened the scoring from Allie Hess after six minutes. Sarah Stratigakis would amend her miss on a sitter in the 37th minute by scoring a nearly matching effort just over five minutes later.
Capping off a strong home campaign, Nikayla Small would net the winner deep into an end-to-end second half in front of the 3,181 in attendance.
Both teams came into Sunday afternoon with a mix of regular starters and rotation ahead of next week’s semifinals. Sarah Rollins came in for AFCT while Kaylee Hunter left early during warmups and was replaced by Lauren Rowe.
AFC Toronto head coach Marko Milanovic assured fans post-match, however, that Hunter would be good to go, both for the postseason, as well as her first-ever CanWNT call-up. “[Hunter] felt a little bit of a quad strain” in the warm-up, with Milanovic adding that the last-minute change was only a precaution with the call-up in hand, and that she "likely" could've played through it.
Roses head coach Robert Rositoiu went further, switching up the tactic to match Toronto one-for-one. Mégane Sauvé and Lara Schenk filled in as wingbacks, behind a midfield group of Chloe Minas as a single pivot behind Charlotte Bilbault and Allie Hess.
After the match, Rositoiu explained that the changes were “more out of necessity,” given a number of players who were unavailable for this match. Still, the head coach confirmed that both forwards, Tanya Boychuk and Chaerim Kang, will be available come playoff time.
It was the latter, Hess, that dimmed the atmosphere at York Lions Stadium. Six minutes in, a backtracking Nyota Katembo collided with Toronto goalkeeper Sierra Cota-Yarde. That left a loose ball for Hess to run onto and deposit into the empty net.
AFCT would regain the upper hand from that point onwards. What they couldn’t regain, however, were their shooting boots. No fewer than four opportunities were flashed wide or over the crossbar.
Rowe had the first two, two minutes apart, being stuffed by a pair of big Anna Karpenko stops. April Lantaigne was up next, coming within inches of the far post on a shot from the top of the Roses’ 18-yard box.
But it was Sarah Stratigakis with the golden chance. In a miss that would rival any other, her side-footed attempt from two yards out in the 37th minute somehow ended up over the bar.
Of course, in peak NSL chaos, she would get another attempt in the 43rd minute, and made up massively. In a carbon copy, this time assisted by Rowe, she would get to celebrate her second goal of the season.
Adding to a mixed afternoon, AFC Toronto would also lose a major piece at the start of the second half. Off the ball, stalwart centreback Croix Soto had to be carried off the pitch by AFCT’s medical staff, in obvious discomfort. Soto was replaced immediately by Kaela Hansen, initially rotated after playing 90’ last weekend.
After the match, Milanovic said he had no immediate updates on Soto, though he noted the defender “wasn’t able to walk” after the match, and will need to be evaluated in the coming days.
Rallying after the injury, the moments continued to come for AFC Toronto.
Rowe would have a sliding effort on a rebound disallowed in the 57th minute. Then, Karpenko denied both Stratigakis and Rowe with a pair of rising fingertip saves. That, in turn, was followed up by substitute Colby Barnett nearly bending an olimpico into the side netting.
It was indeed Toronto who got the last laugh in the 87th minute, as Burns managed to just about keep a Barnett cross in play and lay off to Okoronkwo. The Nigerian international then played it back to Small atop the box.
Small, with what felt like all the time in the world, struck an emphatic fifth goal of the season to send the team — and the fans — off into the playoffs with a win.
The heart-in-mouth feeling would not subside until Myriam Marcotte blew the final whistle, after a spill in the final stanza nearly gifted the Roses a late second.
Speaking after the match, Small and Stratigakis both zeroed in on the number of chances they generated, with the former saying that the win was “all for the fans; we really wanted to win for the fans and get that on our home field on the final day.”
With the result, the NSL’s play-offs schedule is now set. AFC Toronto will host none other than the Montréal Roses in their semi-final matchup, while the Ottawa Rapid get the advantage over the Vancouver Rise in the other home-and-away semi-final.
