Monthly Roundup: April 2026

Welcome back to the wsoccer.ca newsletter!! We did it! Spring is here, summer footy nights are just around the corner, and we survived another Canadian winter. April was an exciting month, as the NSL kicked off season two, European club competitions were in the home stretch, and the CanWNT and CanW20s were in action. Let’s dive in with the old-school newsletter format: Three highlights, League in Focus: UWCL, Local Footy, and CanWNT News. And as always, feel free to support my work by buying me a coffee.

Montreal top of the league, Rapid dominate at TD Place, BMO curse is getting spooky, Halifax kicks off season with four points, Wild and Rise in trouble.

Nearly three weeks in, the story lines are already tasty. Montreal is back with a vengeance, The new formation is working, Elyse Bennett is tearing up the league, and the defensive unit matches the offensive output. Their closest geographical Rivals, Ottawa Rapid, lost their first match in Halifax, but have been impossible to stop at home at TD Place, Keera Melenhorst, DB Pridham, and company scoring 9 goals in front of the home crowd. Halifax is a completely different team this season and is in third place, ahead of Toronto, thanks to a stronger spine and outstanding fullbacks. Toronto’s BMO curse continues, with a 0-1-1 record on Lakeshore. The worst part isn’t the lack of results in front of home fans - losing Esther for 6 weeks due to a meniscus injury is the bigger blow. Speaking of injuries, the Calgary Wild have had a tough go due to a lack of players available for games. The injury (and illness) list is 8 players deep, including key players Hess, Moore, Johnson, Talbert, Thurton, and Jones. It’s no coincidence that Vancouver’s list is equally long, with 7 unavailable players, littered with long-term absences such as Woeller and Young, and week-to-week ones such as Pante, Abdu, and Wright. The -9 goal differential and 0:4 score lines in the last two road games demonstrate exactly how difficult it’s been for the reigning Champions.

Here’s a look at my selections for the best XI so far. Let me know if I missed anyone or if you have any hot takes.

In the last 3 weeks alone, we’ve seen a Huitema goal, 3 straight Lacasse goals, 2 assists from Alidou, a Prince goal and pair of assists, a BSG goal to secure Boston’s first win, a Sonis brace, and a Carle assist. Additionally Canadians are being honoured among the league’s top players, Lacasse being listed as #9 in ESPN’s Top 25 performers so far, and Jessie Fleming coming in 13th. It’s great to see Canadians hit their stride in the NWSL, especially given some of the mediocre performances over the last few seasons. Not only is the output significantly better, but CanWNT players are genuine stars and key players for their sides. Cloé Lacasse takes the cake in terms of standout players so far, as her three goals and 2 assists have her sitting tied for 7th in the league in points. Her goals have secured 6 points for Utah who are surprisingly in 4th place, keeping pace with top teams Portland, Washington, and San Diego. 🎶Twenty fouuuurrrrrrr… Lacasse, running down the wiiiinggg🎶

It’s that time of year. Trophies are being handed out to various European clubs whose seasons are coming to a close. Among the major competitions five Canadians have already secured hardware. Vanessa Gilles lifted her 8th major trophy at club level, winning the Bundesliga with Bayern in her first season. She played 13 league matches, scored 3 goals, and added 1 assist, ending the season with a 7.5 average Fotmob rating. Jade Rose and Manchester City finally ended Chelsea’s WSL Championship run, the Citizens winning their first league title since 2016. Rose played 19 matches, 1645+ minutes, winning the starting role in early October and never looking back. Maya Antoine and Evelyne Viens are Serie A Champions with Roma, the club winning their 3rd title in the last four years. Viens was a key contributor with 3 goals and 7 assists this season. She also became Roma’s All-time leading foreign scorer. Her contract runs out this summer. 24-yo CB Antoine joined in the Winter and has been slowly integrated into the team. She has made 5 appearances in the league. Last but not least, Ashley Lawrence lifted the Coupe de France with Lyonnes yesterday, winning her second trophy with her new club, both Cup finals against her former club PSG.

For this month’s league in focus, let’s take a look back at the 2025/26 UWCL Season, ahead of the final taking place in Oslo on May 23rd. 

The semi-final stage of the UWCL featured three Canadians this year in Ashley Lawrence, Olivia Smith, and Vanessa Gilles. Three (Riviere, Awujo, Buchanan) were eliminated in the quarters in early April. Overall, 23 Canadians took part in some part of the UWCL Qualification process, with four (Hernandez-Gray, Kozlova, Race, Wickenheiser) also playing in the inaugural UEFA Women’s Europa Cup following disqualification.

There was a major format change in 25/26, mirroring the men’s league format whereby there are no groups, but rather teams play 6 different teams in the “league phase”. The top four teams qualified automatically for the quarters, while teams ranked 5-12 played a two-legged knockout playoff round to reach the final 8.

According to UEFA, the change in format made games more competitive, with 54% of games being decided by one goal. It also allowed for more teams from different countries to participate due to the expansion from 16 to 18 teams. Matches were more meaningful from the beginning, thus matchups formerly reserved for the knockout stage due to seeding were played earlier, increasing the entertainment value.

 Despite being eliminated after the league phase, Ev Viens 5 UWCL goals still has her sitting for 5th most goals in the competition. Olivia Smith’s 3 goals are the second-most by a Canadian this season and she also has the third-most successful dribbles per game (2.8) among all players. Ashley Lawrence has covered the sixth most distance in Europe, with an incredible 40.2km. Vanessa Gilles 91% passing accuracy is among the top 20 across all players who’ve played 2 or more games. 

Over the past 2 weeks, the semi-finals were played in prime time between OL and Arsenal, and Bayern and Barcelona. Olivia Smith was the POTM in Arsenal’s 2-1 win in leg 1, and Vanessa Gilles helped Bayern withstand the relentless Barca offense, keeping it to a 1-1 tie. Both Canadians were voted to the MD Best XI. Unfortunately, neither of them advanced past the semi-final stage, falling 3:1 and 4:2 respectively.

Therefore, Ashley Lawrence is the lone Canadian remaining in the competition. She’ll look to add to her UWCL runners-up medal earned in 2017 when PSG lost the all-French final on penalties vs her current team. Lawrence has been a nailed on starter, playing 90+ in all four knockout matches so far. The final takes place in Oslo in a couple of weekends from now at 12pm ET/9am PT. Lyon play for their 9th title, Barcelona for their 4th in the last 6 years. 

Let’s check in on how leagues across the country are kicking off their summer campaigns.

Atlantic - We’re all still patiently waiting for League 1 Atlantic, given the rumours and serious need for the semi-pro game in the Maritimes. Plenty of ballers call the East Coast home and while the emergence of the Tides is a positive sign, more needs to be done to support player development. 

One of those steps was taken last month when an Atlantic All-stars team, composed of primarily AUS standouts, played the Tides in their final pre-season friendly. The 0:2 result was a good indication that AUS players can absolutely hang, and need more opportunities to showcase their talent year-round.

Quebec - It feels like Quebec Soccer is having a moment. The Roses are in full bloom with three wins, 7 goals, and 0 goals conceded, in the first three games of the NSL season. FC Supra’s all-Quebecois roster is showing the CPL exactly how much of a talent hotbed la Belle province truly is. 

In the semi-pro game, a stacked Royal Beauport team leads the league with 14 points in 6 games. Led by Universite de Laval trio Melodie Lavigueur, Lea Jeanne Fortier, and Rosalie Robitaille who have combined for 8 goals. 

The table is tight behind the leaders, with CS MRO and CF Montreal, on 13 and 12 points. Individually, aforementioned Melodie Lavigueur and her Rouge-et-or teammate Victoria Dupont (Celtix) have scored 4 and 5 goals, respectively. CFM’s Maika-Kim Guerrier has four goals and her teammate Aaliyah Picquet has three. Apart from the goals, there’s plenty of talent on display each week and you can catch select upcoming games here.

Ontario - Death, taxes, and NDC-O top of the table. Ontario’s top teenagers continue to dominate the semi-pro landscape, with a +16 goal differential and 4 wins from 4 games. Last year’s Champions Simcoe County Rovers sit in second with 10 points. The surprise story of the season so far has been the success of newly promoted Scrosoppi FC, who are tied for 3rd with historic powerhouse Woodbridge after 4 games (7 points).

CanYNT standout Alyssa McLeod leads the league in goals (4), alongside Guelph United star striker Olivia Brown, and Vaughan midfielder Joanna Abdelmalak, who scored a hattrick against struggling North Toronto to start the season. Rovers defender Bryana Caldwell also stands out with three league goals, including the winner against Scrosoppi a couple of weekends ago.

In the Cup, the quarter-finalists are set: Guelph, Woodbridge, Vaughan, Simcoe County, NDC-O, FC London, and Waterloo United, with no OPL2 or 3 cupsets at this stage. In OPL2, Pickering is top of the table, with Oakville and Tecumseh trailing by 2 and 5 points, respectively.

Alberta - The APL finally kicked off on May 1st with a 0:0 draw between Edmonton BTB and Calgary Rangers, and Calgary Wild U23’s 3:1 win over the Calgary Villains. That win featured multiple players who have trained with Calgary Wild’s First team including captain Reese Kincaid. Interestingly, Allie Hess was listed as the team’s Head Coach in that match. It’s unclear whether that is an intentional move into coaching or whether it was a necessity due to lack of operational staff, as theorized by the folks over at the YYC Soccer Podcast.

Matchday two took place this weekend, and the Wild maintained a perfect record, defeating the Foothills. Tara Djurisic’s brace powered Edmonton BTB’s first win over Callies United. Stay tuned as the season unfolds and the best players in Alberta battle to knock off 3-time Champions Calgary Blizzard, who opened their season with a 2:2 result vs St Albert Impact. 

Prairies - The inaugural PPL season kicked off this weekend with Winnipeg’s Luciana FC beating local rivals Bonivital 3:0. We all know that soccer in this country revolves around major hubs, and that the Prairies have been under-served for generations. That’s why this new competition is a crucial step in the right direction with clubs in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Northern Ontario joining the semi-pro ranks.

It’s hard to know what to expect from SC Bonivital, Luciana FC, FC Manitoba (Winnipeg-based), Queen City United (Regina), Saskatchewan Excel (Saskatoon), and Thunder Bay Chill (Northern Ontario), but the 10-game season spanning from May to mid-July will crown the inaugural PPL Champion.

Notable player announcements include Thunder Bay midfielders Ella Favot (NCAA Div 2 standout midfielder) and Imogen Joseph (committed to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville), Bonivital’s Mia Fonseca (University of Manitoba), and Queen City’s Hadiza Kasim (University of Regina), just to name a few. Good luck to all involved!

BC - The BCPL was the first to get going, so teams have played between 4-6 games, over a quarter of the season, already. The table is tight, with Unity and the Rise academy leading the way with 15 points each (Rise with one game in hand), and Altitude and TSS Rovers (have played two more games) trailing by five points, on 10. 

Altitude’s offense is firing on all cylinders with 17 goals in 4 games, and 10 different goalscorers. Chloe Van Schalkwyk’s (Altitude) four goals sits top of the league with 4 goals, tied with Unity’s Charity Field. The Rise have relied on plenty of young players as some of their more experienced starters like Chloe Taylor and Lacy Kindell have traveled with the First team, but their quality was evident in the Rise’s 3:1 win over Altitude this past weekend.. 

You can catch one match per week on the BCPL Youtube channel British Columbia Premier League - YouTube. Keep an eye on top of the table clash between Unity and Rise coming up on May 13th. 

If you want to keep track of all women’s PSL action, check out David Parkes’ weekly roundup for the Northern Tribune.

FIFA Series Wrapped

The two wins and one loss in the FIFA Series, hosted in Brazil, brings us to a 3-2-1 record, 11 goals scored and 4 conceded over the first 6 games in 2026. We’ve also lost both competitions (a generous way to characterize the She Beliebs and FIFA Series, I know) and continue to struggle against top 10 teams, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. The style of play is more recognizable and it seems that Stoney has found a way to get the best out of key players like Fleming and Sonis. Her confidence in Nichelle Prince has been paying off for club and country, as has her willingness to give new faces like Pridham and Chukwu a proper chance. We even have a better idea of what the starting front three could look like - Smith, Viens, and Lacasse rolling up against Brazil.

According to Sofascore, here are the top-rated outfield players and their goal contributions:

There was a lot of rotation, no player playing more than 240 minutes. Vanessa Gilles (240), Janine Sonis (210), and Kailen Sheridan (180) led the way, while Hunter, Levasseur, and Jade Rose played the fewest minutes. Of course, Jade Rose received an unfortunate red card vs South Korea in the 30th minute and was thus ineligible against Brazil. 

Despite the disappointing loss to Brazil CanWNT moved back up to 9th in the World Ranking, temporarily relieving fears that Canada is no longer a top 10 nation.

CONCACAF Qualifiers Pathway through Panama

The pathway to World Cup and Olympic Qualification is set. Canada takes on Panama on November 28th, in Texas. As you may recall, all it’ll take is one win and we’re in, as in qualified for the World Cup. There hasn’t been official word on it yet, but from my understanding, one win and we’d also be automatically qualified for the Olympics, that’s if the USWNT beats El Salvador in their quarter-final match the day prior. A lot is on the line in Texas, but we’re hoping for more than just a spot in the semi-finals. At minimum you’d want to see a strong performance in a final, meaning a win against either Mexico or Haiti in the semis. 

U20s win WC preparation games vs Costa Rica

Last but not least, an expanded CanW20 roster was in action in Costa Rica as a tune up match ahead of the World Cup later this Summer. Coach Cindy Tye called in a stacked roster featuring players like Noelle Henning, Bridget Mutipula, Janet Okeke, Chloe Taylor, Olivia Chisholm, Jeneva Hernandez-Gray, Teegan Melenhorst, Taegan Stewart, Felicia Roy, and Liana Tarasco. 14 players returned from the 2025 Championship squad.

Canada won both games, the first one 3:1 and the second 3:0, but only released information for the first match. Sariyah Bailey scored a brace and Taegan Stewart scored the third in that one.