Griffons come from behind to reach WIPC25 Final

August 9, 2025

Sherwood Park, AB – August 8, 2025 – The 2025 League1 Canada Women’s Inter-Provincial Championship semifinals delivered two fierce battles on Friday night in Sherwood Park, Alta, with both matches decided by the narrowest of margins.

League1 Ontario champion and competition debutant Simcoe Rovers FC edged League1 BC champion Altitude FC 1–0, while Ligue1 Québec champion CS Mont-Royal Outremont earned a comeback 2–1 win over League1 Alberta’s Calgary Blizzard SC to secure their second straight berth in the tournament final.

For Simcoe, Sunday’s final offers the chance to cap off a remarkable season by claiming their first-ever national title and becoming the first League1 Ontario team to lift the Women’s Inter-Provincial Championship trophy. For CSMRO, it is an opportunity to finish the job they started last year, erase the sting of their 2024 final defeat, and affirm themselves as the top women’s side in the country.

Calgary Blizzard 1 – 2 CS Mont-Royal Outremont
The second semifinal saw this year’s two returning teams square off for the chance to face Simcoe County Rovers in the final.

Blizzard Head Coach Cedric Bovon went for a starting XI that boasted a mix of experience and youth. Such veterans as goalkeeper Lauren Houghton, defenders Tori Martyn and Maggie Zacsko and midfielder Rehana Murani made up the spine of the team. But it was an injection of youth that helped Blizzard shine in the first half. Calgary started four 15 years old — birthday girl Molly Burke, the tournament’s youngest player, Shaden Al-Asad, Emma Baker, Annalise Cicoria and Maiya Emberly — 17 year old Kamble Paterson, none of whom looked out of place against and older and more experience CSMRO side.

In fact, it was Cicoria who made the difference in the first half, scoring the game’s opening goal in the 40th minute to put the host province ahead just before halftime. It was the first goal the Blizzard scored in more than 220 minutes of Women’s Inter-Provincial Championship play over two years, and achieved, in part, a goal Bovon set out for his team ahead of the tournament, to improve on its performance at the 2024 competition.

But CSMRO had the same ambitions, and the side from Québec wasn’t going to give up that easily.
A pair of back to back goals in the 65 and 66 minute from Osamede Iyare and Devon Vermaine, respectively, turned the tables for CSMRO. Iyare’s free kick goal is in line to be the goal of the tournament, a stunning free kick from outside the 18 yard box that found the top corner of Blizzard’s net.

Sunday’s championship match at Emerald Hills Sports Park will now pit two in-form provincial champions brimming with confidence and looking to make history against each other, as Simcoe aiming for League1 Ontario’s first national crown, and CSMRO chasing the trophy that eluded them last year.

Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. MT / 5 p.m. ET, with the third-place match between Calgary Blizzard and Altitude scheduled earlier for 12 p.m. MT / 3 p.m. ET.

Tickets to the final day of the 2025 League1 Canada Women’s Inter-Provincial Championship can be purchased at Emerald Hills Stadium in Sherwood Park, Alta. on Sunday, Aug. 10 for $15.

Sunday’s matches will stream on OneSoccer’s secondary channel and can be viewed via onesoccer.ca or the OneSoccer app on iOS or Android.

Fans of the League1 Canada Women’s Inter-Provincial who are new to OneSoccer can subscribe at a discounted rate of just $4.99 for the first month (regular price $ 14.99) by using promo code Inter2025 at watch.onesoccer.ca. To sign up, click Subscribe in the top right corner of the homepage. Then click Register to create your account. Choose the Monthly Pass, enter your payment information along with the promo code Inter2025, and click Pay to Subscribe.