For 45 minutes, Rise looked like the team in control. What happened next was rather unpredictable, but that just seems to be the way things go sometimes in this league.

Rise walked into halftime on Sunday with a lead, confidence and a game plan that was working. By the final whistle, Calgary Wild FC had turned the match on its head, scoring three times in the second half to leave Vancouver with a 3–1 defeat and plenty to reflect on.

The game showed both sides of the Rise: the energetic, aggressive team that took the initiative early and the side that struggled to respond when the momentum shifted.

Vancouver came out on the front foot.

Okamoto nearly opened the scoring inside the first few minutes when her cross forced Calgary goalkeeper Sarah Keilty-Dilling into a save. Alex Lamontagne reacted first to the rebound but sent her effort just wide of the far post.

Jessica De Filippo, chasing her league-leading 13th goal, had another opportunity in the ninth minute. Her long-range effort was comfortable for Keilty-Dilling, but the early pressure continued.

At the other end, Jessica Wulf was equally alert. The Rise goalkeeper raced off her line to cut out a through ball intended for Serita Thurton, preventing the Calgary forward from getting a clean look.

The game settled into a back-and-forth rhythm,m but Vancouver continued to find joy out wide.

Lamontagne and Mia Pante repeatedly found pockets of space on the wings, stretching Calgary's back line and delivering balls into the box. Eventually, that pressure produced the breakthrough.

In the 35th minute, Pante burst down the left before sending a cross towards the edge of the box. Lamontagne met it first time, catching the ball perfectly and sending a sumptuous volley into the top corner.

It was exactly the kind of finish that rewarded Vancouver's approach.

The Rise nearly carried that advantage into the break without a scare. Wulf had to produce one more important intervention before halftime, getting a fingertip to a dangerous cross and pushing it away from a crowd of Wild FC players waiting inside the box.

Vancouver had done the hard part.

The second half, however, told a very different story.

Calgary needed only a few minutes to erase the lead. Taylor Otto rose to head past Wulf, making it 1–1 and giving the home side an immediate injection of belief.

Suddenly, the momentum swung in Wild's favour. 

In the 56th minute, Dougherty-Howard completed the turnaround with a free-kick that put Calgary ahead.

Vancouver tried to respond. In the 63rd minute, De Filippo slipped the ball across to Lamontagne, who got her shot away but could not beat Keilty-Dilling.

A minute later, Calgary struck again.

Jorian Baucom met a loose opportunity with a volley and made it 3–1, turning what had been a promising afternoon for Vancouver into a difficult one.

Pante nearly found a response of her own in the 75th minute, sending a cross towards goal that instead nestled into the side netting. De Filippo continued to push for a way back into the match, firing over the bar from the edge of the box in the 89th minute.

Even in stoppage time, Vancouver kept searching.

After D'Filippo's free-kick was deflected, Abdu slid towards the loose ball but could only watch her effort roll agonizingly past the far corner.

The chances were there. The conversion, though, never quite arrived.

For interim head coach Iain Darbyshire, the difference between the two halves was difficult to ignore"

“I thought in the first half we had control and created some big opportunities,” he said. “In the second half we were absolutely nowhere near the level required, and we really let ourselves down.”

He pointed to more than Calgary's attacking quality as the reason for the collapse

“The work rate from the team, the decision-making, and the overall team cohesion were lacking,” he said. “When we needed players to step up, they didn’t, and that’s a real shame.”

The result leaves Vancouver with little room for complacency as the regular season enters its final stretch.

For Darbyshire, the lesson is less about one goal or one moment and more about how the team handles the moments in between"

“We need to manage the momentum shifts of the game more effectively,” he said. “The team really struggled mentally today, and that is a big reason for the unacceptable second-half performance.”

Vancouver now has two road games in Ontario to navigate, beginning with AFC Toronto on October 4 before facing Ottawa Rapid FC on October 18.

The regular season will then come full circle at Swangard Stadium on October 25, when Rise FC hosts Calgary Wild FC for its Fan Appreciation Match.

After Sunday, Vancouver knows exactly what it needs to fix. The first half showed the level this team can reach.

The second showed how quickly that level can disappear.