BURNABY, BC – It was a thrilling Wednesday evening at Swangard Stadium, as Vancouver Rise FC fell on the wrong side of a 4-3 scoreline against Montreal Roses FC
Rise FC had a paw-some start as Maithé López scored inside three minutes of play. Anaïs Oularbi curled in a fantastic cross from a corner kick, and the ball bounced perfectly for López to drill a volley inside the near post.
Roses FC found their equalizer not long later, as Lisa Pechersky scored in the 14th minute, turning it inside the six-yard box to make it 1-1.
However, Rise FC would bite back in the 17th minute, this time with López becoming the provider. The Colombian forward latched onto a flick-on from Jessica De Filippo and drove it into the box from the right, cutting it back for the onrushing Oularbi, who tapped it into the far corner to give Rise FC the advantage.
Anna Bout nearly made it 3-1 after Roses FC ‘keeper Anna Karpenko punched a ball out right to her, but her lobbed effort went agonizingly over the crossbar.
The back-and-forth half continued as momentum shifted back to Roses FC, who once again equalized in the 39th minute after Elyse Bennett turned in a loose ball in the Rise FC box.
Rise FC almost got the lead back right before the half after Camila Reyes threaded a beautiful ball in behind for De Filippo. De Filippo bore down on goal and tried to dribble past the onrushing Karpenko, but was tackled before she could fire it into the net.
After a half filled with action, the referee whistled for the break with the scores locked at 2-2.
Rise FC nearly got the third four minutes after the restart, after Josie Longhurst put Camila Reyes in a great position down the left, but Roses FC did well to deter the counter-attack and put it behind for a corner.
Despite the great start to the half, Roses FC were the ones to strike first in the half, after Mimi Alidou fired a goal from inside the box to make it 3-2.
Anne-Valérie Seto made it 4-2 minutes later, scoring off a corner.
Rise FC nearly halved the deficit twice in the span of two minutes, after a cross from Anna Bout found López in the box, but her header went over the crossbar. López was at it again when she intercepted a pass from the backline, but her curled effort was pushed wide by Karpenko.
Yuka Okamoto started a great chance after sprinting down the left and putting in a brilliant ball to the feet of De Filippo. The striker’s first touch managed to get it past her marker but her ensuing shot went just over the bar.
Rise FC kept pushing to try to get back into the match, throwing players forward to try to fetch an equalizer as Roses FC retreated deeper and deeper into their half.
De Filippo almost found a goal after a deep cross from Reyes bounced right through to the striker, but her heel flick didn’t have enough power to go past Karpenko.
Latifah Abdu, off the bench, brought back some hope after scoring in the 89th minute. A cross into the box dropped to the feet of Abdu, who rifled it into the bottom left corner.
In the end, Rise FC pushed hard as the game came to a close, but just ran out of time as the match finished 4-3 for Roses FC.
Rise FC are back in action on Saturday, August 8 for our annual Pride Match as they face-off against Calgary Wild FC. Kickoff is at 4 p.m. PT. Fans can grab tickets at vanrisefc.com/tickets.
MATCH DETAILS
Referee: Renzo Villanueva
Scoring Summary
3’ - VAN - Maithé López
14’ - MTL - Lisa Pechersky (Tanya Boychuk)
17’ - VAN - Anaïs Oularbi (Maithé López)
39’ - MTL - Elyse Bennett
54’ - MTL - Marie-Yasmine Alidou (Lorie Thibault)
58’ - MTL - Anne-Valérie Seto
89’ - VAN - Latifah Abdu
Statistics
Possession: VAN 52% - MTL 48%
Shots: VAN 17 - MTL 15
Shots on Goal: VAN 6 - MTL 7
Saves: VAN 3 - MTL 3
Fouls: VAN 6 - MTL 10
Offsides: VAN 0 - MTL 3
Corners: VAN 5 - MTL 4
Cautions
45’+2 - VAN - Tori Tumeth
46’ - MTL - Charlotte Bilbault
Vancouver Rise FC
13.Morgan McAslan; 12.Jaylyn Wright (4.Sura Yekka 65’), 6.Tori Tumeth©️, 45.Myla Ewasiuk; 14.Anna Bout, 7.Nikki Stanton (17.Audrey Francois 65’), 10.Camila Reyes, 18.Yuka Okamoto (28.Jaime Perrault 81’); 11.Jessica De Filippo, 23.Maithe Lopez (99.Latifah Abdu 65’), 26.Anaïs Oularbi (24.Josie Longhurst HT)
Substitutes
1.Kirstin Tynan, 31.Jessica Wulf, 33.Racquel Partovi, 59.Allie Pazarka
Montreal Roses FC
1.Anna Karpenko; 5.Anne-Valérie Seto, 2.Lucy Cappadona, 20.Mégane Sauvé; 12.Tanya Boychuk, 18.Charlotte Bilbault (24.Olivia Mbala 83’), 19.Lorie Thibault (23.Félicia Roy 73’), 3.Hailey Whitaker (28.Amandine Pierre-Louis 62’); 11.Marie-Yasmine Alidou, 9.Elyse Bennett (7.Noémi Paquin 73’), 10.Lisa Pechersky
Substitutes not used
22.Anne-Marie Laroche, 14.Claire Monyard, 21.Marilou Harvey