Around the NSL: A corner to remember; De Filippo’s boot; a highlight-reel brace

You better believe the race to the finish line is on and this weekend’s action proved just that.

The standings picture didn’t get any clearer — aside from the Roses securing their playoff ticket in a 2-2 road draw against the Rise last Saturday — with five of the league’s six club’s still very much in the post-season race.

Words of advice? Embrace the chaos of the final four weeks. But first, here’s the highlights and storylines out of an eventful Week 22.

Highlight of the week

Apologies to Anika Tóth. Arguably, the bending corner from the foot of AFC Toronto midfielder Victoria Pickett was going into the net even if it deflected off the Halifax Tides’ goalkeeper.

And what a beauty of a corner. The Newmarket, Ont., product’s touch was perfectly placed to curve neatly towards the home side’s net without assistance from another Mighty Maroon — well, it probably wouldn’t have needed assistance.

Don’t think you have time to watch the highlight? The first corner of the game went down 50 seconds into the match, so that’s on you.

And an honourable mention? Saturday’s second matchup saw a fingertip save from Vancouver Rise goalkeeper Jessica Wulf on Montreal striker Elyse Bennett that kept the damage to just one goal for the visitors in the 71st minute.

De Filippo strikes again

Speaking of Wulf’s fingertip save on Bennett, the Roses may have won the battle for a share of points on Saturday, but forward Elyse Bennett lost the war.

The Rise’s Jessica De Filippo made a dagger of a strike in the 83rd to answer Montreal’s goal and launched the Vancouver forward into first place in the season’s goal race (12), leapfrogging over Bennett as the two strikers had gone into last Saturday’s action tied with 11 goals apiece.

De Filippo is now just six goals shy of last year’s Golden Boot winner Delaney Baie Pridham, who opened the inaugural campaign for the award with an 18-goal season.

An ace of a brace

The Calgary Wild lost for the first time since Week 15 and Ngozi Sonia Okobi-Okeoghene’s brace was a large part of that.

The Ottawa Rapid midfielder opened and closed the scoring in Sunday’s Week 22 finale.

Her first goal on the season was a dagger inside the box in the fourth minute and her insurance marker in the 78th was even more spectacular.

Okobi-Okeoghene’s brace curled over the fingertips of Wild goalkeeper Sarah Keilty-Dilling — yes, that Keilty-Dilling who was the hero for the Wild in Week 21. Again, it’s worth the watch.

Week 22: brought to you by highlight-reel moments.

Oh, and the Rapid’s 3-1 win pushed the club back into second overall in the standings. Truly an ace of a brace.

Game to watch in Week 23

The biggest game of the week goes down Sunday (11 a.m., CBC Gem) at the Wanderers Grounds as the Halifax Tides are officially in must-win territory for a place in the post-season.

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The Tides are three points out of the playoff line with the club they’re chasing — the Vancouver Rise — three points ahead of them. The Rise face Calgary in the second game on Sunday (3 p.m., YouTube), but the Wild might be able to help out Halifax as the club forced a 2-2 draw the last time they faced Vancouver back in Week 19.

Halifax will have to do something they haven’t been able to do all season to help the post-season cause as the last time they squared off against the Roses was back in Week 12, losing 1-0 on the road at Stade Boréale.

The Mighty Maroons host the Rapid to kick off the weekend action on Saturday (1 p.m., CBC).

The playoff countdown is officially on.

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Grace Anne Paizen
Sports Editor

Grace oversees the team that produces sports journalism for the Free Press.