History will be made on Sunday, April 27 as Ottawa’s newest professional sports team takes to the pitch at TD Place. Ottawa Rapid FC is a founding member of the Northern Super League (NSL), a top-division professional women’s soccer league featuring teams in Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax. The quality of the league is expected to be extremely high, with the announced base salaries and salary cap already putting the startup among the very best leagues in the world.
So who are Rapid FC and what should we expect this season? Let’s dive in!
Coach Katrine
On October 10, Rapid FC announced that Danish legend Katrine Pedersen had been hired as the team’s head coach. Pedersen holds the record for appearances for the Danish national team with 210 caps over 21 years, and cemented herself as the best midfielder in the Danish team’s history.
Coach Katrine Pedersen. Photo Allan-Hogholm
After retiring, Pedersen served as an assistant for the Danish women’s national team, as well as head coach of AGF Fodbold for two seasons. Since 2023, she was in a talent development role for the Danish Football Association, until being signed by Ottawa.
In terms of style of play, Pederson appears to favour an aggressive approach.
“We want to be a team that dominates on the ball,” Pedersen said recently on The Stepover Podcast.
We want to be a team that presses high, as high as we can, as often as we can. If the opponents will let us do that, it depends on how good we are at it and how good the opponents are, and that is the whole excitement as well about this league. We don’t know a lot about the opponents… We don’t know a lot about the level yet. We have to be able to play the whole game and manage the moments in the game. That is the beauty of football and that means that sometimes we play low. We have to be able to defend low, we have to be able to get from low to high. But what we’ve been working on is finding our positions and being a team who wants to be forward-minded, dominating on the ball, and getting the ball back quickly when we lose it.
Key Signings
Ahead of the inaugural season, with each team looking to establish their identities, little was known about what each team’s roster might look like and where they would find their players. Ottawa looks to have done a solid job recruiting a roster with a majority of Canadian players, several from right here in Ottawa, coming from leagues in North America, Europe and Asia.
In goal, the tandem of Mollie Eriksson and Melissa Dagenais might be the best one-two punch in the NSL. Both had standout NCAA careers, are highly athletic, and can command the box with authority. Mollie has been involved in the youth national programs for both Canada and Sweden, and Melissa was called up to a Canadian national team camp ahead of some friendlies in 2023. Both are starting goalie calibre players, and whoever starts will have the other there to push them.
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What fans should notice about this roster is the versatility available to coach Pedersen. Many of these players are strong in multiple positions, and will likely find themselves lining up in different positions at various points of the season. There might be no better example of this than Choo Hyo-joo, who will be a lynchpin of this squad. Listed on the roster as a defender, Hyo-joo is a South Korean international with 54 caps with their national team. Only 24 years old and extremely hard-working, she can play, and excel, anywhere on the pitch.
Desiree Scott, of course, is a Canadian legend. A mainstay on the national team since 2010, with 187 caps total, “The Destroyer” recently retired from international competition. As Ottawa’s highest profile signing, she has been the face of the team leading up to opening day. However, injuries have been a problem for her the last few years. If Desiree can stay healthy and play regular minutes, she still has the ability to dictate play in the middle of the pitch, and her composure will be a very positive influence for many of her younger teammates.
A big question to answer will be who is going to be the focal point of Ottawa’s attack, and the answer may be Nanaimo native Jazmine Wilkinson. The 22-year-old is a graduate and leading scorer of NCAA Division 1 school Texas A&M. Wilkinson is a fantastic distributor of the ball, can play physically when needed, and is an excellent finisher inside 30 yards. Her contract with Ottawa is her first professional contract, and she has the attributes to be a breakout star.
Desiree Scott with Team Canada. Photo Silvia Izquierdo
The Roster
Players signed to the Rapid FC roster at of time of publication:
G – Mollie Eriksson
G – Melissa Dagenais
D – Susanne Haalan
D – Liv Scott
D – Jyllissa Harris
D – Choo Hyo-joo
M – Kayla Adamek
M – Miranda Smith
M – Emily Amano
M – Julia Benati
M – Ellen Gibson
M – Florence Belzile
M – Desiree Scott
M – Ngozi Okobi-Okeoghene
M – Lee Min-a
F – Stella Downing
F – Johanne Fridlund
F – Nicola Golen
F – Melanie Forbes
F – Jazmine Wilkinson
F – Delaney Baie “DB” Pridham
Ottawa born Miranda Smith now plays for Rapid FC. Photo Rapid FC
Apt613 Predictions
With only two matches in the books at the time of publication (a 1-0 win by Montreal Roses FC over AFC Toronto, and a 1-0 win by Vancouver Rise FC over Calgary Wild FC), there is little scouting available so far, but on paper, Ottawa’s roster holds up as one of the strongest in the NSL. Here are some predictions for the season!
NSL standings:
1 – Vancouver Rise FC
2 – Ottawa Rapid FC
3 – Montreal Roses FC
4 – AFC Toronto
5 – Calgary Wild FC
6 – Halifax Tides FC
Ottawa’s leading scorer: Jazmine Wilkinson (8 goals)
Who will score the goal of the year: Miranda Smith
MVP: Choo Hyo-joo
Goals for: 44
Goals against: 35
Clean sheets: 6
Ottawa Rapid FC kicks off their season this Sunday, April 27 at 1pm, when they take on AFC Toronto at TD Place. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster and both the South Side and North Side will be open. Games will also be broadcast this season on TSN, RDS, CBC Gem, ESPN+ and NSL.ca.
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