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Photo Courtesy: Sean Pollock / AFC Toronto
AFC Toronto 0-0 Calgary Wild: Hosts Shut Out
By For the first time in the head-to-head, AFC Toronto has failed to defeat the Calgary Wild. The sides drew 0-0 on Sunday afternoon at BMO Field in their fourth meeting of the season.
Toronto had just ended their run of bad luck at BMO Field the week prior with a 2-1 defeat of the Ottawa Rapid. Last year’s regular season winners made three changes for this match, all coming in the midfield. Two of them were forced, as Olivia Chisholm and Kaylee Hunter departed for the FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup.
The Wild narrowly missed out on victory last weekend, conceding a stoppage time equalizer to Vancouver Rise in a 2-2 stalemate. Madison Pogarch was the only player not to maintain her spot in the starting 11, with Frederique St-Jean taking her place at left-back.
It was the home side who created all of the opportunities in the first half. Lauren Rowe came close to breaking the deadlock in the third minute, with her shot taking a deflection and going just wide of the goal.
Rowe was involved again moments later when she played through Lena Silano on another attack. The American’s effort ended up going wide of the mark.
A quarter hour in, and Toronto had Calgary pinned in their defensive third. Shelina Zadorsky tried her luck from distance, with the ball flying just over Sarah Keilty-Dilling’s goal.
Midway through the half, Cloey Uddenberg had a decent opportunity from the top of the box. Going for goal first-time, the effort from the midfielder failed to hit the target. Silano followed suit with an attempt, but it was straight at Keilty-Dilling.
Silano then came quite close shortly before the interval. This time, she stuck with her left foot. While her shot was always rising, it certainly left the Calgary keeper concerned. She was relieved to see the shot fly over the bar.
The hosts had another good chance to open the second half, with captain Nikki Small playing in Nyota Katembo. The latter’s shot, however, was kept out by Keilty-Dilling, who got down and stuck a foot out to make the save.
Of the Wild’s 10 shots in the match, nine of them came after the break. Serita Thurton found herself free in the box and was played in, but she failed to get proper contact on the ball, making it an easy stop for Sabrina D’Angelo.
Despite being on the back foot for the whole first half and first bit of the second, Calgary came alive after the hour mark. Josephine Aulicino saw an opening after a mix-up in the Toronto defence. In on goal, the attacking midfielder’s effort was stopped by D’Angelo in what was their best chance of the game at that point.
Two minutes later, the visitors were in the exact same position. This time, it was Jorian Baucom who was one-on-one with an onrushing D’Angelo. The AFC Toronto keeper did well to get off her line quickly to make her opponent’s shot harder to get past her. The save kept the score at 0-0.
Still, Toronto kept pushing for a goal to go ahead and keep the winning streak going. Mia Fontana cut in and went for goal. Unfortunately for her, the curling effort did not hit the target.
Rowe came closest for the home team minutes later, as a long ball played her in. Keilty-Dilling came off her line, but was helpless as Rowe got to the ball first. Fortunately for Calgary, the header went just wide of the target.
Toronto ended up with 22 shots in the match, with Rowe having five of them. Her last one came when she rounded the Calgary keeper and tried to finish on an increasingly tight angle. But, she could only put her shot out of bounds.
The goalless draw keeps Toronto in third spot in the standings, five points behind the Montreal Roses, who beat Ottawa Rapid 3-2 to increase their lead in top spot. Next for AFC will be a trip to Laval to face the Roses in an important match at the top of the standings.
Calgary’s unbeaten run has gone up to six across all competitions, five coming in the NSL. With that said, they stay last in the standings, 13 points out from the final playoff spot. They will return home to meet the Halifax Tides, who won the other weekend match over the Rise thanks to a late goal from Julia Benati.
