AFC Toronto draws Halifax Tides FC at BMO Field

• AFC Toronto 1 (Hunter 28’), Halifax Tides FC 1 (Miller 44’)
• Toronto fails to leapfrogged Ottawa; finishes 3rd in table    
• Kaylee Hunter scored team-high 11th goal for Toronto    
• Stephen Hart coached his final game for Halifax

TORONTO – AFC Toronto is squarely focused on making amends for coming up short in last year’s Northern Super League Final.

But Toronto’s path towards reaching the league’s championship match for a second straight year became a bit bumpier thanks to a 1-1 draw vs. Halifax Tides FC at BMO Field on Monday in the final game of the 2026 NSL regular season.

Canadian international Kaylee Hunter scored for Toronto (10-6-9, 39 points) who squandered an opportunity to leapfrog Ottawa Rapid FC (12-9-4, 40 points) for second place in the final league standings. 

As a result, Toronto finished third and will play Ottawa in the semifinals of the playoffs. Ottawa will host the decisive second leg. First-place Montreal Roses FC faces defending NSL champions Vancouver Rise FC in the other final four matchup. Toronto hosts Ottawa on Oct. 31 at York Lions Stadium with the return leg scheduled for Nov. 1.

"[Finishing third] doesn't change anything other than we don't have to travel this week, which is actually helpful for us since we had three days less than Ottawa who played on Friday against Montreal, so they had more time to rest. The schedule is not great for us, but we're gonna have to do what we need to do this week to be ready," Toronto coach Marko Milanović told reporters after the game.

This was Stephen Hart’s last match as coach of Halifax. The former Canadian men’s national team manager announced earlier this month he was stepping down at the end of the NSL season. Halifax (7-10-8) ended up in fifth place and failed to make the playoffs for a second straight year. Halifax would have finished fourth and clinched a post-season berth with a win. Instead, they closed out the season with five straight draws.

Milanović’s starting 11 included Canadian internationals Hunter, Sabrina D’Angelo and Sarah Stratahakis. Unavailable due to injury were Shelina Zadorsky and Zoe Burns, both members of the Canadian national team. as well as Esther Okoronkwo. Canada’s Samantha Chang and Linda Owusu are out with season ending injuries. Canadian international Victoria Pickett wasn't in the matchday roster. Milanović revealed that Zadorsky has been dealing with an illness she picked up while away on international duty and might not be able to play in the first leg vs. Ottawa.

Toronto put the hammer down right from the opening kickoff, putting Halifax under constant pressure and earning five corner kicks in the first 10 minutes. Lena Silano and Hunter had early looks on goal that they failed to convert.

Silano should have scored a breakaway chance later in the half when she latched onto a fabulous through ball from Hunter and rounded goalkeeper Anika Tóth. Halifax defender Addison Weichers made a great recovery run before making a crucial goal-line clearance on Silano’s angled shot on goal.

The breakthrough finally came when Toronto captain Nikayla Small took advantage of a Halifax giveaway in its end of the pitch and delivered a killer cross into the box for Hunter. The young forward chested down the ball and slammed her shot past Tóth to score her team-leading 11th goal of the season.

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Halifax looked totally beleaguered up to that point but levelled the score right before halftime on a play out of nothing. Saorla Miller took a short pass inside the 18-yard box and then drove past three Toronto defenders before driving her shot into the roof of the net past a helpless D’Angelo.

"I thought we we played really well in the first half. Probably, I would say one of our better halves this year, and we conceded that goal at the end. It was a great strike, but we should have been up comfortably in the first half with the amount of chances that we created," Milanović said.

The visitors started the second half on the front foot as they began to ask questions of Toronto’s back line. D’Angelo was called into action when she was forced to make a two-handed stop of Jordyn Rhodes shot on goal off a great feed from Miller. 

April Lantaigne had a chance to restore Toronto’s lead with a volley at the fat post that went over the crossbar. Both teams furiously pressed for a winner in the final 20 minutes of regulation time to no avail. D’Angelo made a game-saving save on Naya Cardoza’s deflection on goal deep into injury time to preserve the draw.

NOTES: Toronto went undefeated against Halifax this season with a 2-0-3 record while conceding just two goals… The previous meeting between the clubs ended in a 1-1 draw in Halifax on Sept. 19… The NSL Final takes place on Nov. 14 at TD Place in Ottawa where the Diana B. Matheson Cup will be contested...