May 10, 2025
The Montreal Roses and Halifax Tides play to a draw at Stade Boreale
With the rain clouds subsiding just before kick-off between the visiting Halifax Tides FC and the unbeaten Montreal Roses FC, the Northern Super League’s best – and worst teams, points wise, clashed.
The Roses have looked dominant in every match they have played so far in this, the inaugural season of the NSL, with strong showings on the defensive end, in midfield, and up front, where the leagues two best strikers roam. Latifa Abdu and Tanya Boychuck – and while the Halifax Tides FC, on paper, are the lowest ranked team so far this year, they are still a formidable foe, as they showed here this afternoon.
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Early on, the Halifax Tide were pressing the Montreal Roses, looking for any weakness they might be able to exploit in their defense. What they found was a fortified wall that doesn’t give up chances easily. Still, for Halifax to hold possession early on was a bit of a wake up call for the Roses, who took a short while to get into the match.
The Roses haven’t allowed more than a single goal in a match so far, and this afternoon wasn’t to be any different. As hard as the Tides pressed, time after time, they saw their chances come to nothing, as the Roses shut them down in their own zone. Squeezing them into low scoring areas and relying on goalkeeper Gabrielle Lambert to handle the attempts that Tides were able to take.
On several occasions, the Roses striped the Tides of the ball and mounted a strong and rapid offensive in the opposite direction – but they too came crashing in the strong defenses of the Halifax Tides, as the match grew more and more into a battle for midfield possession.
While both sides were able to earn the odd chance, neither could find anything of substance and neither keeper really had anything difficult to deal with. Testimony to how good the backend of each team has been this afternoon.
As the sun briefly made an appearance, Montreal’s Tanya Boychuck found a gap and was able to fire off a shot but nothing that was going to trouble Halifax keeper Anika Tóth.
Latifah Abdu too found a few spots through which she was able to apply her speed, creating havoc for the Halifax Tides defenders, but was often found to be offside before she could unleash her bullet of a shot. The Tide were deploying their offside trap with great success all game long, and the Roses fell into it constantly. Wisely, too, as Abdu is not only tied for the league in goals scored, but shots n goal as well.
At the sound of the final whistle, the Roses and Tide had played to a entertaining goalless tie. It isn’t often that a game without any scoring plays can be considered highly entertaining, but from a pure soccer perspective, this was a great match-up that yielded some very strong moments on the pitch.
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With the draw, the Montreal Roses remain the only undefeated team in the league and stay atop the standings. Halifax Tides FC, despite a great showing this afternoon, are still last place but have earned their first point of the season here today.
The Roses with travel to Alberta to challenge the Calgary Wild FC at McMahon stadium on May 18th, while the Halifax Tides FC will return home to host AFC Toronto on May 17th.
