The Vancouver Rise won 1-0 against the Calgary Wild “in the inaugural Northern Super League game.” The debut of Canada’s first women’s professional soccer league drew a crowd of 14,018 -- “many clad in teal and black Vancouver Rise scarves” -- at B.C. Place. League co-founder Diana Matheson and former Canadian player and Vancouver Rise part-owner Christine Sinclair were “recognized on the big screen” before kickoff. Fireworks and Canadian flags stood at midfield, where “dozens of young girls clad in jerseys from each of the league’s six teams, held shimmering gold discs that created a glittering effect.” The league’s first week continues Saturday when AFC Toronto hosts Montreal Roses at BMO Field (CP, 4/16).
The product on the pitch and TV production “was slick,” the players were “athletic, skilled and well-coached” and the tactics “were sound.” In short, “it was professional.” Vancouver Rise MF Quinn, who scored the lone goal in the game, said the debut was “bigger than I was expecting.” Quinn: “Seeing Diana Matheson and Christine Sinclair with the ball, and just kind of sinking in how much work’s been done to get to this moment ... that was a pretty surreal moment for me.” There has been a “latent push” to bring a professional league to Canada since the 2015 World Cup. The Canadian Premier League and Canada Soccer were “working slowly behind the scenes to start a women’s version” of the men’s league, but “nothing happened.” FIFA VP and CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani said that it needed “a champion.” Matheson was “the driving force behind convincing sponsors, backers and players that a league could work” (Vancouver PROVINCE, 4/16).
