Shelina Zadorsky scored her first career NSL goal, Sarah Stratigakis tallied her third of the year as Toronto extended its unbeaten streak to four matches

Ottawa, ON (August 9, 2026) – AFC Toronto battled to a 2-2 draw with Ottawa Rapid FC on Sunday afternoon at TD Place. The club is now unbeaten in four straight contests. AFC Toronto (7-4-4) continues to sit third in the Northern Super League table with 25 points.

Ottawa struck first on Sunday off the foot of Melanie Forbes. Toronto responded later in the first half. After an initial attempt from Kaylee Hunter was saved, Lauren Rowe pounced on the rebound and took a strike, which deflected off Sarah Stratigakis to level the score. Stratigakis was credited with her third goal of the year, with Rowe earning her second assist.

In the 62nd minute, Toronto’s Cloey Uddenberg and Ottawa’s Choo Hyojoo were dismissed, bringing both clubs down to 10 players. Later, Toronto was awarded a penalty shot when Colby Barnett was taken down in the box. Shelina Zarodsky stepped up to the spot and converted for her first Northern Super League goal, giving Toronto the lead. Nicola Golen tied it in stoppage time for Ottawa off a free kick set piece, bringing the game to a 2-2 draw.

“We're obviously very disappointed with the result, considering that we had the lead in stoppage time with about five minutes left,” said head coach Marko Milanovic. “And we were in total control from the time that we scored that second one until that free kick. We had the ball, probably 80% of the possession was ours. So disappointed with the result, but at the same time, there's a lot of soccer to be played. We turn our attention to next week to Montreal.”

Next weekend, AFC Toronto returns home to host Montreal Roses FC at BMO Field on Sunday, August 16th at 3 p.m. ET.

SHELINA ZADORSKY: Shelina Zadorsky converted a penalty on Sunday for her first career Northern Super League goal.

SARAH STRATIGAKIS: Sarah Stratigakis was credited with her third goal of the season on Sunday. The 27-year-old boasts six total goal contributions this year.

UNBEATEN STREAK: AFC Toronto is unbeaten in four-straight matches.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: AFC Toronto has a 0-2-1 record against Ottawa this season.

UP NEXT: AFC Toronto hosts Montreal Roses FC at BMO Field on Sunday, August 16th at 3 p.m. ET (Available on TSN, RDS2; U.S. streaming on ESPN+).

MATCH SUMMARY
AFC Toronto - 2 | Ottawa Rapid FC - 2
Venue: TD Place
Referee: Scott Bowman
Assistants: Marie-Han Gagnon-Chretien, Melissa Snedden
Fourth Official: Renzo Villanueva
Referee Observer: Laurence Rodier

SCORING SUMMARY
AFC Toronto: S. Stratigakis (34’), S. Zadorsky (77’ PEN.)
Ottawa Rapid FC: M. Forbes (13’), N. Golen (90+1’)

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
55’ - Yellow: Kayla Adamek (Ottawa Rapid FC)
62’ - Red: Choo Hyojoo (Ottawa Rapid FC)
62’ - Red: Cloey Uddenberg (AFC Toronto)

STARTING LINEUP & STATS
AFC Toronto Starting Lineup:
GK Sabrina D’Angelo (Welland, ON)
DF Sarah Rollins (Toronto, ON)
DF Victoria Pickett (Barrie, ON)
DF Shelina Zadorsky (London, ON)
MF Colby Barnett (USA)
MF Zoe Burns (USA)
MF Nikayla Small (Pickering, ON)
MF Sarah Stratigakis (Woodbridge, ON)
MF Cloey Uddenberg (Richmond Hill, ON)
FW Kaylee Hunter (Calgary, AB)
FW Lauren Rowe (Conception Bay South, NL)

Substitutes: Sierra Cota-Yarde (GK), Jordan Brewster (DF), Ashley Cathro (DF), Olivia Chisholm (MF), Nyota Katembo (MF), April Lantaigne (MF), Mia Fontana (FW), Kaila Novak (MF), Lena Silano (FW)

Total Shots: 11
Shots on Goal: 5
Fouls: 9
Offsides: 2
Corner Kicks: 4
Saves: 2

Video Highlights
Media can access video highlights from the match on the Northern Super League YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/@NorthernSuperLeague

Photo Highlights
Media can access photo highlights from the match here.

Match Summary
A complete summary of the match facts and stats can be viewed at: www.afctoronto.ca/games/2026-08-09-ottawa-toronto

More from the locker room:

Shelina Zadorsky, on her first goal with AFC Toronto: “I always want to help the team in any way I can. It's kind of bittersweet because of the result. Always happy to get a goal and definitely really meaningful to get my first goal for the club. But ultimately, I think me as a defender, I’m taking accountability where I can be better and helping our back line be better as well. Just in the way that we shifted across, the speed with which we can nullify their threats. And then it's us making good decisions on the ball. I think there was some of that, but it wasn't a complete performance, unfortunately, until the end. So yeah, room for growth. But yeah, really honoured to get my first goal.”

Zadorsky, on her takeaways from the match: “Obviously right now, conceding at that time in the game in that manner, for a defender it's really frustrating. And I always look at my own performance first and how I can be better in those moments. Whether we could have dealt with it in the corner earlier. We have to win first contacts on free kicks and set pieces, they’re huge and they make the difference sometimes. So yeah, we learn from that definitely, and how we train that moving forward as well. But there are positives to take out as well. Our control and some of our combination play, Lena (Silano) almost getting a goal at the end. I think there's those positives and highlights that we need to take forward as well and we'll learn from it and bounce back.”

Marko Milanović, on responding after going down early: “We always feel like we can create and score. So us going behind doesn't really affect us too much. There's so much quality going forward that we knew we were going to create chances. It was just a matter of being a little bit better in the final third, in and around their box. And on that goal, we were able to do that. And after that, I thought we played pretty well for most of the game. But like Shelina said, it's a little bit bittersweet because we conceded that late goal and lost two points.”

Milanović, on his takeaways from the match: “For me, concentration needs to be there until the very end. I don't know what happened in that corner prior to that free kick, whether it was a foul or not. We're going to have to look at it. And the actual free kick, I thought we could have defended a little bit better. I would think that's the main lesson the group needs to learn from this. But ultimately in our last four games, we've had three wins and now there's a draw. So we're in a very good place when it comes to form, atmosphere, and all of that. We're very much in this race.”