Ottawa soccer fans had a rough Saturday at the pitch as the hometown Rapid, who've been sitting atop the Northern Super League standings for much of the season, were handed a lopsided 5-1 defeat by the visiting Vancouver Rise.
A Tough Night at Home
The match, played in Ottawa, started evenly enough, but everything changed after the break. The Rise exploded for four goals in the second half alone, turning what could have been a tight contest into a rout. Alex Lamontagne, making her debut with Vancouver, wasted no time making an impression — she found the back of the net twice, giving her side all the momentum it needed to run away with the result.
For a Rapid squad that has spent much of the Northern Super League's inaugural season near the top of the table, this kind of result stings. Ottawa entered the weekend as the front-runners in the league, and a home crowd expecting to see their team extend that lead instead watched the wheels come off in the second 45 minutes.
What Went Wrong
While the first half reportedly stayed competitive, the floodgates opened after halftime. Four goals conceded in a single half is a tough pill to swallow for any club, let alone one that's been playing near the top of a brand-new league that's putting Canadian women's soccer on the map. Ottawa's lone goal wasn't enough to offset Vancouver's surge, and the Rise left the capital with all three points.
The Ottawa Angle
The NSL has been a big deal for Ottawa sports fans this year — it's the first professional women's soccer league of its kind in Canada, and having a competitive local team has given the city something new to rally around. Rapid matches have been drawing steady crowds, and the club's strong early-season form had Ottawans buzzing about a potential playoff push. A loss like this one, especially at home and against a team that just added a player who scored twice in her first appearance, is a reminder that the league's parity is real — no team, including Ottawa's own, is coasting to the finish line.
With the Rapid still holding a solid position in the standings despite the setback, there's plenty of season left for Ottawa to regroup. Fans will be watching closely to see how the squad responds in its next outing, and whether this second-half collapse was a one-off or a sign of cracks that need fixing before the playoff race heats up.
Source: CBC Ottawa
