NSL co-founder Diana Matheson says Saturday's Final 'celebration of women's pro sport in Canada'

Some seven months after its opening kickoff, the inaugural Northern Super League season wraps up Saturday with the championship game at Toronto's BMO Field.

"It's flown by. I can't believe we're almost at the end here," league co-founder Diana Matheson said.

"We're all pretty excited for Saturday," she added. "So much work went into this first season — on the field, off the field, from the supporters — and we really want Saturday to be a celebration of women's pro sport in Canada."

And with the Grey Cup coming one day later in Winnipeg, it really is a Canadian championship weekend.

Matheson is hoping to sell out the lower bowl at BMO Field for the showdown between AFC Toronto and Vancouver Rise FC. And the weather appears to be co-operating, with the forecast calling for 7 C and light rain.

That's a major improvement from the blizzard that hit Ottawa for Sunday's CPL championship game between Cavalry FC and Atletico Ottawa and the snow that pushed back the NSL semifinal second leg between AFC Toronto and the visiting Montreal Roses a day to Monday.

AFC Toronto finished atop the regular-season-standings at 16-6-3, 12 points ahead of third-place Vancouver at 11-8-6.

The NSL Final will be broadcast nationally on CBC and live streamed at CBC Sports and CBC Gem on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET. Match time is 2 p.m.

The teams split their five-game regular-season meetings with each team finishing 2-2-1.

Both finalists helped launch the league with high-profile openers, with Vancouver defeating the visiting Calgary Wild 1-0 April 16 before an announced crowd of 14,018 at B.C. Place Stadium. Three days later, Toronto lost 1-0 to the Montreal Roses before 14,518 at BMO Field.

Matheson will be combining business and