Esther Okoronkwo’s goal of making it to the Northern Super League inaugural championship game has been achieved.
The 28-year-old attacker scored three times in the first 27 minutes of Monday’s semifinal match at snow-covered York Lions Stadium and the regular-season champion AFC Toronto defeated the visiting Montreal Roses 4-1, taking the two-leg aggregate 6-1.
Lauren Rowe added a fourth goal for Toronto in the 84th minute.
Tanya Boychuk scored for the Roses in the 74th minute.
Okoronkwo’s hat trick secures AFC Toronto a spot in the NSL final with victory over Roses
Toronto will face the Vancouver Rise in Saturday’s NSL Final at BMO Field. Vancouver defeated Ottawa 5-4 on penalties after their two-leg semifinal series ended tied 3-3 on aggregate.
The second game of the Toronto-Montreal series was originally scheduled for Sunday afternoon but had to be delayed a day due to inclement weather and significant snowfall in the Toronto area.
Okoronkwo, who had eight goals and eight assists over 1,486 minutes of action during the regular season, scored in the sixth minute on Monday, then added her second 14 minutes later. She completed the hat trick with a goal in the 26th minute. After that the Roses didn’t have a snowball’s chance of upsetting the hosts.
Toronto won the first game of the semifinal 2-0 at Stade Boreale in Montreal on Nov. 1. Nikayla Small and Kaylee Hunter scored for the visitors.
