Montreal Roses trounce Wild 5-0 and climb to second place

Montreal Roses FC fans show their pride after the team's home opener win against the Ottawa Rapid FC. (Daniel J. Rowe/CTV News)

The Montreal Roses struck early against the Calgary Wild and made a big move in the standings on Saturday, winning 5-0 to climb from fourth to second place in the Northern Super League (NSL).

Stephanie Hill opened the scoring in the third minute, and the Roses never looked back. Claire Monyard in the first half and Tanya Boychuk in the second half added to the Montreal team’s lead.

Quebecers Noémie Paquin and Lorie Thibault scored their first goals of the season after an hour of play.

The Roses had 10 of their 17 shots on target in the game.

This is the first win in three games for the Roses, who had never scored more than three goals in a game. The Wild, meanwhile, suffered their fourth consecutive loss.

Second before today’s games, the Vancouver Rise suffered a 7-0 thrashing at the hands of AFC Toronto on Saturday. The Roses and the Rise have identical 9-6-5 records, but the Roses lead them in the tiebreaker, which is goal differential.

The Ottawa Rapid, which started the day ahead of the Roses in third place on tiebreakers, settled for a 1-1 draw against the Halifax Tides, also on Saturday.

The Roses will return to action on Thursday when they host the Tides at Boréale Stadium.

A good start

In the second minute, Stephanie Bukovec had to make a save, diving to her left when Mégane Sauvé sent a cross to Charlotte Bilbault.

On the ensuing corner kick by Bilbault, Hill broke the deadlock with a header. It was the defender’s fourth goal of the season.

In the 19th minute, Monyard doubled the visitors’ lead with her first goal of the year. Chaerim Kang had initially sent the ball towards the net, but a Wild defender blocked the play, sending the ball into the penalty area at Monyard’s feet.

The Wild started the second half with some aggressive offensive changes, but the first chance went to the Roses. Tanya Boychuk came close to scoring off a cross from Kang in the 47th minute, but the ball did not cross the goal line.

Roses goalkeeper Anna Karpenko made her first save of the game in the 48th minute.

Boychuk dealt a blow to the Alberta team when she made her way into the penalty area to score her sixth goal of the season in the 51st minute.

Paquin scored an insurance goal in the 76th minute, and Thibault added another in the 83rd minute.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Sept. 13, 2025.