90 minutes down, 90 minutes to go.<\/p>\n
AFC Toronto will head to the nation\u2019s capital for leg two next Saturday in control of their Northern Super League playoff semifinal, after turning a first-half lead over the Ottawa Rapid into a critical two-goal first leg advantage with a 4-2 victory over the capital club at York Lions Stadium on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Toronto star Kaylee Hunter had much to do with that margin of victory, scoring a brace and assisting one while also having a hand in the fourth in a Player of the Match performance<\/a>, while CanWNT goalkeeper Sabrina D\u2019Angelo denied Ottawa striker DB Pridham from the spot at a pivotal point in the first half.<\/p>\n It was also an afternoon of firsts as young Toronto left-back April Lantaigne scored her first professional goal \u2014 also AFCT\u2019s first marker of the postseason.<\/p>\n Related Read: AFC Toronto draw NSL regular season finale vs. Halifax Tides, will face Ottawa Rapid in playoffs<\/a><\/p>\n One might expect the moods to be high after a win of that margin, and particularly, a comprehensive first-half performance, especially given the struggles that AFC Toronto have had this season with capitalizing on their chances at home<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yet, as Toronto supporters might have come to expect from head coach Marko Milanovic by now, it\u2019s quickly onto the next task for his side.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s only the first half of this (tie) and obviously, we have to forget about this game as quickly as possible (to) prepare for the next one,\u201d he told reporters, including Waking The Red, post-game.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are obviously happy with our performance \u2014 the first half was outstanding, probably of the best halves we\u2019ve played all year \u2014 (but) I thought we maybe could have finished a few more chances. The goal at the end was probably avoidable, but something that we\u2019re definitely going to look at (and) clean up for next week.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think (the win was) more about players winning battles in important areas of the pitch, and I thought our players today won so many of them in the first half, pretty much all of them,\u201d Milanovic later added.<\/p>\n Both teams were on similar form (or lack thereof) entering Saturday\u2019s clash, with Ottawa being pipped to the Supporters\u2019 Shield by the Montr\u00e9al Roses<\/a> and Toronto falling short of second leg advantage in their semifinal after drawing to the Halifax Tides<\/a> in their respective regular season finale.<\/p>\n The two sides also played each other closely in their five regular season meetings, with four being decided by a goal or fewer, splitting 2-1 wins with each other in addition to a pair of draws.<\/p>\n It was, however, Toronto\u2019s 3-0 win over Ottawa on Sept. 26 in the remaining regular season matchup that Saturday ended up mimicking as Kaylee Hunter bested the Ottawa back line for the second and third times this season. She struck a Sabrina D\u2019Angelo route one assist past Melissa Dagenais in the 24th minute, then beat the Ottawa goalkeeper again with a clever peeling run in the 66th minute.<\/p>\n Lena Silano, who scored a brace in that September win over Ottawa, meanwhile, had Toronto\u2019s third of the day. Hunter was once again involved though, as she received and released a shot towards Dagenais. The Ottawa goalkeeper was able to get a leg to it, but was unfortunate to see it fall straight to Silano for her fourth goal with Toronto.<\/p>\n \u201cA tough game (and) a semifinal where Toronto showed up, as we know they can,\u201d Ottawa head coach Katrine Pedersen told reporters in her first reactions after the loss. \u201cThey were good in transitions, we struggled with that especially throughout the first half.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think we didn\u2019t really impose our football as well as we can because we didn\u2019t win the battles \u2014 the first first and second balls \u2014 that made it hard for us. Second half, we managed a little bit better with that part and we showed when we are able to connect more in our team, we look dangerous. But, managing a Toronto team with a lot of transitions was hard for us today.\u201d<\/p>\n Ottawa\u2019s league-best offence (49 goals, two more than second-best Vancouver Rise) did manage to solve Toronto\u2019s joint-league best defense (24 goals conceded, tied with Halifax) twice, halving the ultimate deficit that they will need to make up in leg two.<\/p>\n After two consecutive super-sub performances for the Rapid, midfielder Florence Belzile reprised that role again, setting up Lee Min-a\u2019s completion of a South Korean connection with Choo Hyojoo as Ottawa reduced Toronto\u2019s lead to 3-1 in the 58th minute.<\/p>\n Keera Melenhorst added to her six goals on the season, second-best within the Ottawa squad, scoring a late but well-worked one-two with Pridham in second-half stoppage time.<\/p>\n Despite getting two goals back \u2014 no away goals in play in the NSL \u2014 it\u2019s hard not to overlook what an early answer might have done for Ottawa, had Pridham beat her CanWNT teammate D\u2019Angelo.<\/p>\n \u201cDB is very good at penalties (and) she\u2019s been training them (so) I don\u2019t think it was mind games,\u201d Pedersen commented post-game. \u201cI think it was a good save and I haven\u2019t seen it again, either (but) DB has a very strong mindset and I would let her go any time against Sabrina.\u201d<\/p>\n D\u2019Angelo, for her part, admitted she couldn\u2019t remember if she had ever faced Pridham on penalties in training with Canada, suggesting it was a save \u2018in the moment\u2019 that \u201cworked out well today,\u201d rather than one that she might\u2019ve had an inside track on.<\/p>\n Toronto, for their part, despite the four goals, could\u2019ve also had more of an advantage to take to Ottawa for leg two after Kaylee Hunter thundered a snapshot off the crossbar before the end of the first half.<\/p>\n Related Read: Attacking firepower on show as Vancouver Rise, Montreal Roses meet in NSL semifinal<\/a><\/p>\n Elsewhere on Friday, AFC Toronto head coach Marko Milanovic was named NSL Coach of the Year for a second season in a row.<\/a> While the award was voted on by Milanovic\u2019s peers, the last standing inaugural head coach was quick to turn the attention on the rest of his coaching staff.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely an honour to be Coach of the Year, especially because it comes from people inside the league and my colleagues, the people that you\u2019re competing with on a yearly basis,\u201d a quote attributed to Milanovic read in a release to media. \u201cBut like most individual awards, it\u2019s really a team award because none of that is possible without your colleagues and with all your players.\u201d<\/p>\n While Toronto prevailed on Saturday, it will mean nothing if they don\u2019t finish the job in the second leg on Nov. 7 in Ottawa. After all, they\u2019re certainly eager to return after losing the NSL Final last year to the Vancouver Rise<\/a>.<\/p>\n