NSL: Pridham scores ninth goal in nine games as Rapid defeat Wild 3-1

Ottawa Rapid's Delaney Baie Pridham, left, kicks the ball as Calgary Wild's Mijke Roelfsema closes in during second half Northern Super League soccer action in the in Calgary, on Sunday, May 11, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Delaney Baie Pridham scored her league-leading ninth goal of the season as the Ottawa Rapid defeated the Calgary Wild 3-1 in Northern Super League action Saturday.

Pridham has nine goals in nine games for the Rapid (4-3-2), who are third in the six-team league with 14 points.

Melanie Forbes had her first career goal and an assist off the bench for Ottawa on her 26th birthday. Nicola Golen also scored for Ottawa.

Sonia O’Neill had the only goal for the Wild, who fell to 3-4-2 and remained in fourth place, ahead of Vancouver on goal differential.

Pridham opened the scoring in the 32nd minute with a shot redirected off the goal post.

Forbes put Ottawa up 2-0 in the 65th minute, then set up Golen’s first career NSL goal in the 87th.

“It feels great,” Forbes said. “It’s like icing on the cake, literally.”

Golen’s goal came after O’Neill had cut Ottawa’s lead to 2-1 in the 83rd minute, 10 minutes after she came into the game.

“You could tell a lot of our players were tired because of the heat so when you come off the bench it’s your job to get that push and help the team,” O’Neill said. “With how close everyone is in the standings, we know goal differential is important, so even if we didn’t win the game, I knew it was important to score.”

Later Saturday, Kaylee Hunter scored twice as AFC Toronto defeated the visiting Halifax Tides 3-1 to take over first place.

Halifax took an early lead on a Toronto own goal five minutes into the game, but Hunter’s brace and an insurance marker from Esther Okoronkwo improved Toronto’s record to 6-3-1 for 19 points, two ahead of the league-leading Montreal Roses.

It was Toronto’s fifth win in the team’s last six games, and the first come-from-behind victory of the season.

Assistant coach Sylvia Forbes said Toronto’s resilience is a good sign of things to come.

“We remember how we feel in the tough moments and then, we remember how we feel in these good moments. We understand that the work hasn’t stopped. We expect the players, we expect us as a staff to get better each and every week,” said Forbes.

" … This is a long season with a lot of really good teams in the league and we enjoy these moments. Then we get back to work after.”

The last-place Tides fell to 1-6-1.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 21, 2025.