For the second straight year, the League1 Canada Women’s Inter-Provincial Championship’s final match will see the representative from League1 Québec face the representative from League1 BC to decide not only the winner of the national championship, but who will represent Canada in the 2025-26 Concacaf W Champions Cup.

CS Mont-Royal Outremont needed a penalty shootout during Friday night’s semifinal round to beat NDC Ontario and advance to the championship final. Whitecaps FC Girls Elite, the competition’s reigning champions, bested Calgary Blizzard 2-0 that night to ensure it would have the chance to defend its title on Sunday.

The championship final between CSMRO and Whitecaps kicks off at 3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ont. on Sunday. The match will be broadcast live on OneSoccer, Canada’s dedicated soccer channel.

Here is the key to the match for each side as both teams look to come out on top of the 2024 Women’s Inter-Provincial Championship.

CS Mont-Royal Outremont

Coming into this competition, goalkeeper Lea Palacio-Tellier was one of the players CSMRO head coach Sidi Mohamed Farah identified as key to the club’s success in Hamilton. Palacio-Tellier, he said, was not only an excellent shot stopper but a leader in the dressing room, having represented the club since the age of 13.

Palacio-Tellier proved her coach right during the club’s semifinal match on Friday night. She made key saves throughout regulation play that kept CSMRO in the game against a pressing NDCO side. And when her club needed her most, during the match-deciding penalty shootout, Palacio-Tellier came up with the deciding save in an otherwise spotless head-to-head, clinching the victory for her team.

Defending will certainly have to be a team effort for CSMRO, as they face as Whitecaps side that went unbeaten in the 2024 League1 BC regular season, outscoring its opponents by 48 goals to seven. But Palacio-Tellier is sure to play a key role in keeping her group organized and motivated as she and her teammates face one of the most difficult challenges of their careers.

Whitecaps FC Girls Elite

Whitecaps FC came into this year’s Women’s Inter-Provincial Championship as the only team with experience in the competition, and the favourite to win again, especially given the squad’s near perfect record over the past two seasons.

Living up to that pressure in Sunday’s final against CSMRO will be a good test for the Whitecaps, ahead of the team’s debut in the inaugural Concacaf W Champions Cup match against Salvadoran side Alianza Women FC on Aug. 15.

Head coach Katie Collar’s side comes up against a CSMRO squad that won’t bring any fear into the match, as it has been defying odds since entering the Ligue1 Québec Final Four, a competition it went on to win, as the lowest seed last month. Battling that kind of positive momentum can be difficult for a side that is so used to winning, so It will be up to the Whitecaps to ensure it underestimates the competition at its own risk.

Match tickets for the 2024 Women’s Inter-Provincial Championship Championship Sunday are on sale here, starting at $15.65.