Confidence, attacking and Hart: Tides eager for strong start to second season
It's certainly a cliché but it feels like the Tides are turning for the better.
The club kicked off training camp at BMO Soccer Centre in Halifax last month with all the enthusiasm a new season offers. There's a dozen new players, with quality signings across the board, and new additions to Halifax's technical and leadership teams.
Speaking to players ahead of the start of the season, there's also a determination that last year — a campaign which saw the Tides buried at the bottom of the Northern Super League's table (NSL) — was an anomaly, a rogue wave born of rookie mistakes and missed opportunities. Players like Sydney Kennedy and Annika Leslie, two Bluenosers, have told one another they want to be playing playoff football in the snow this year.
Expectations, to say the least, have been raised, with a home start at the Wanderers Grounds on April 25 looming on the horizon.
Amidst the fanfare of new players, new kits and a new season, it's easy to overlook one of the most important pieces of business by the Tides this off-season: the confirmation of Stephen Hart as head coach following an interim spell in 2025.
Hart's return could prove to be the most influential signing Tides CEO Dr. Courtney Sherlock and her team made, ushering them between a season of firsts and a season that will undoubtedly ask more of the league's only East Coast club.
A baseline of confidence
When Hart was hired last season, the Tides were already swimming against the current. They'd won one of eight matches. They were bottom of the NSL table. And they were bleeding goal after goal with players looking lost on the pitch.
Although form improved somewhat following his appointment, Hart told HFX Football Post that the group never really found their confidence given their slow start, serving as an anchor around their necks.
"What I thought last year was with the players, a lot of them lacked that confidence. They didn't want to make mistakes, they didn't want to take chances and you can't play like that," he said.
"The mentality of having a poor start, of not doing well, of constantly struggling does play on your mind and your well-being."
This off-season, in many ways, was a chance to reset. Many of the Tides' rookie players, who made the leap from NCAA or university programs, have had a full off-season to prepare with the knowledge of the NSL's grueling schedule, something Kennedy spoke about in January.
Josh Healey
There's also the addition of 11 new players, ranging from South Korean national team midfielder Cho So-Hyun, former Liverpool FC goalkeeper Rylee Foster and American attacker Jordyn Rhodes.
Now, Hart is working with all his players to set a standard from the beginning of training camp that will guide his squad throughout the season.
"The players get a better understanding of their roles and responsibilities and also they get a better feeling of where they fit within the structure of the team. You have a lot more time to get your idea across," said Hart when asked about the benefits of a full training camp with the players.
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Building a squad to score
Attacker Stella Downing competed against the Tides last year as a member of the Ottawa Rapid. However, even across the pitch, she felt the change in the Tides when Hart replaced former head coach Lewis Page.
"I loved the way, when the coaching change happened, the team just stuck together so well and you could really see a shift," she said. "I wanted to be part of it."
Downing is one of Halifax's many new additions, bringing her bag of tricks and offensive nuance to a club that was in desperate need. Although mostly playing as a substitute in 2025, the Vancouver native still recorded three goals and two assists, which would have put her third on the Tides for goals through last year.
To say the Tides lacked goals in 2025 is an understatement: they finished with a league worst 17 goals scored. But they are hoping their scoring woes are behind them.
Josh Healey
In addition to Downing, players like Rhodes, Kennedy, Saorla Miller, Julia Benati, Megumi Nakamura and Tiffany Cameron are expected to provide the punch which was sorely lacking last year.
And the expectation is that Hart will give the attackers the freedom to create.
"I really appreciated when he was saying offence is like an art form, defence is more of a science. We need to give players the freedom to create and that's something I really loved," said Downing.
When asked about last year's squad, Hart added he felt there were too many similar players and the club worked hard to get their recruitment right this off-season by adding players with different skillsets.
Goal scoring, according to Hart, boils down to three components.
"You have what you might call the pre-pass, the person that can find the attacking players as close as possible to the penalty area. And then you have someone, or a couple of players, that not only contribute with goals but contribute well to the final pass and then it's up to the players to finish the opportunity," he explained.
"I thought last year, especially in the later end of the season, we were creating chances. We were either hitting the crossbar or kicking it wide or kicking it over the bar and that's a confidence thing. Hopefully, the players will be in a better frame of mind and show a little more confidence in that respect."
Depth to make the playoffs
Compared to a year ago, there's no question that the Tides are deeper at every position and that includes between the sticks, arguably their position of greatest strength in 2025 thanks to Anika Tóth.
It would have been easy for the club to simply count on the fact that they had the NSL's Goalkeeper of the Year signed for another season. Instead, they went out and signed Foster, who is talented in her own right and hungry for minutes following an impressive career abroad.
However, given Halifax's playoff aspirations, they knew they needed to solidify their roster even in positions of strength.
"We brought in some competition for Anika, which we though was essential mainly because of the FIFA dates. She has to go and it leaves us in a situation where we're without a goalkeeper so we've created some competition there," said Hart.
"In midfield, we tried to increase the speed and also the ability to keep the ball more effectively. We brought in players who have that sort of profile."
Now, with only seven weeks until the start of the season, fans are nearing the opportunity to see the Tides' off-season of work in person. On paper, they've done well. But there's a reason they play the matches: even the best sailors can be blown off course.
And Hart has his sights set on something even further in the distance: playoffs and, hopefully, a home playoff match at the Wanderers Grounds.
"That's our ultimate objective but first the goal is to get into the playoffs," he said.
"They know the expectation, they know the demands."
But it remains to be seen, in a league full of surprises, where the winds will take the Tides.
Cover Photo Credit: Halifax Tides FC
