Roses strike twice in first half to beat winless Wild 2-0

Montreal Roses goalkeeper Anna Karpenko stopped three shots on Friday to record a clean sheet against the winless Calgary Wild. LA PRESSE CANADIENNE/Arlyn McAdorey, archives

CALGARY — Lucy Cappadona and Hailey Whitaker scored four minutes apart in the first half and the visiting Montreal Roses defeated the winless Calgary Wild 2-0 in Northern Super League play on Friday.

Cappadona scored in the 30th minute for the Roses, who improved to seven wins, two losses and three draws. Whitaker made it 2-0 in the 34th minute.

Goalkeeper Anna Karpenko stopped three shots to record the clean sheet.

The cellar-dwelling Wild, who were outshot 18-4 (5-3 on target) by the Roses, have lost nine games and have two draws.

The game marked the debut of new Wild head coach Leah Blayney, who said she liked the team’s collective effort overall.

“In terms of what we are asking the playing group to try to apply in a short amount of time, I’m extremely pleased with their effort to add another layer of technical strength to their game tonight,” said Blayney. “I think it’s a bit disappointing that it’s two set pieces that decided the game, but I’m happy in terms of us being more connected and playing closer together - that’s what I’m asking of them.”

Montreal dominated play throughout the game but in the 71st minute the Wild narrowly missed cutting the deficit to one when goalkeeper Anna Karpenko was caught out of position.

“We created some good chances, and I think it is evident this is a group of fighters from the start-to-the- finish, creating chances to the end of the game,” added Blayney. “This is a work in progress. My expectation is those girls go out there and they are brave enough to try things. We will weather this period and will come out a much stronger group because of it.”

The Roses had possession for 63 per cent of the match, and took nine corners while the Wild had one.

Up next

Roses: Host AFC Toronto on Thursday, July 23.

Wild: Host the Ottawa Rapid on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2026.

The Canadian Press