Jamie Mountain
The Muskie boys’ soccer team had a tough start to their weekend but got better as it went along.
Fort High compiled a 2-2 record at the St. John’s-Ravenscourt Eagles’ pre-season tournament in Winnipeg held Friday through Sunday.
“It was great to have that competition before starting the season for the team to realize the pace that our soccer should be played at,” said Muskie head coach Chris Sinclair, whose squad lost 2-0 in the ‘B’-side final to the host Eagles on Sunday.
“All three teams that we played were pretty strong in the Winnipeg league, so it forced us to move to open space and move the ball quickly,” he noted.
“All [are] things that we have been preaching in practice.”
The Muskies opened play Friday evening with an 8-0 drubbing at the hands of the Glenlawn Lions.
The black-and-gold were only down 1-0 at halftime but couldn’t hold off the Lions’ attack in the second half.
“Overall, I thought we had a good weekend and got much better as the weekend went on,” said Sinclair.
“Our first game against Glenlawn was tough as they are a very good soccer club. They are one of the best teams in Winnipeg and ended up winning the tournament pretty easily after looking at all their scores.
“We didn’t play bad the first half as we were only down 1-0 at halftime,” he stressed.
“But [we] couldn’t hold on as they scored a couple and kind of put us out of it. Towards the end of the game, I think we got really lazy and down on ourselves and made poor decisions, allowing them to capitalize on their chances,” Sinclair conceded.
“If it wasn’t for goalie Jacob Albright, the score could have been even much worse than it was as he made some big saves throughout the game and we just didn’t play well defensively in front of him.”
The Muskies then were awarded a forfeit 1-0 win against West Kildonan on Saturday morning before following that up with a 2-0 shutout win over the Vincent Massey Vikings (Brandon) that afternoon in the semifinals.
Connor Nelson tallied both of the Muskies’ goals.
That set up the title shot against the host Eagles, but the Muskies just couldn’t bury their chances against a good squad.
“With West Kildonan forfeiting the game in the morning, we were able to use the time to work on some things and tighten up some areas, especially in our own half of the field,” Sinclair recalled.
“Obviously [we] played much better against Vincent Massey in our ‘B’-side semifinal game. We moved the ball pretty nicely up the field and got a few good shots on goal.
“We started communicating much better throughout the field and it showed as we were able to shut them down and get a couple nice goals of our own,” he added.
“In our final game, I thought our first half was our best half of the tournament and the second half was pretty solid as well.
“We just couldn’t seem to find the back of the net and they scored a couple nice goals,” Sinclair reasoned.
“So overall, very happy with our performance for our first games of the season.”
With the pre-season tune-ups now out of the way, Sinclair said that area his squad will need to work on moving forward is its defensive positioning without the ball.
In the first game against the Lions on Friday, he felt that the Muskies allowed Glenlawn way too much space to make a play–which cost them.
“So just taking some time and focusing on where to be and each person’s assignment when defending is something we need to tighten up,” he stressed.
“Also what to do when they switch the field. It happened a few times that we got caught chasing when they moved the ball from one side to the other.
“So just communicating and marking is something that we focused on throughout the weekend,” he added.
The Muskies were slated to open the NorWOSSA regular season today against the visiting Dryden Eagles and Kenora Broncos, with the outcomes not known as of press time.
What did Sinclair feel would help lead the Muskies to success and to start the season off on the right foot?
“Well, we haven’t seen what Dryden has and we only got to see a little bit one of Beaver Brae’s game in Winnipeg, but we need to focus on ourselves and play the game that we want,” he urged.
“We have to be strong on the ball and make smart and hard passes. I think that if we can control the ball like we are capable of doing, and move the ball like we did at times in Winnipeg, we will be fine.
“But again, we are a team that has won eight-straight championships and both Kenora and Dryden will be looking to end our streak,” he warned.
“They are going to play hard against us, so we have to match their intensity and show that we want that trip to OFSAA more than either of them.”
Dryden will host the next slate of NorWOSSA league names next Wednesday (May 15) while the regular-season finale is set for May 22 in Kenora.
The NorWOSSA playoffs then are slated for May 29 in Dryden, with OFSAA to follow on June 6-8 in North Bay.
