Rainy River: a soccer dynasty?

When the Rainy River Owls girls’ soccer team takes to the field for the NWOSSAA playoffs this Friday, it will mark the first time a soccer team from there has advanced to that level of play.
And they expect it won’t be the last.
The Owls screeched onto the soccer scene this season, with the girls’ finishing as the runner-ups to the NorWOSSA-champion Muskies and the boys losing a disappointing 1-0 decision to the black-and-gold in the semi-finals, giving up the game-winning goal in the waning minutes of regulation time.
A fluke? Or the start of another successful high school soccer program in the district?
RRHS coaches Roben Ogden and David MacDonald feel it’s the latter. But how does a team, which has a population base of just 200 kids, compete against schools which have anywhere from 500-1,200 students?
“The last four years, the program has been gradually improving and we have been developing the nucleus of 11 players which are in our starting lineup,” said Ogden, who coaches the boys’ team.
“We can play with any school–it’s not an overnight miracle,” he stressed.
MacDonald, whose girls’ team will face St. Pat’s (Thunder Bay) and Lake Superior High School (Terrace Bay) for the NWOSSAA crown, agreed their success hasn’t totally shocked the coaches or players.
They knew they were getting better and better all along.
“It’s just a matter of players in grade nine coming in and the senior players have stuck with it,” said MacDonald, who helps his father, Dave, coach the girls’ team.
“The girls are pretty excited . . they are pretty confident. They are seeing what they can do when they believe in themselves,” he noted.
MacDonald is confident his team can win–or at least compete–at NWOSSAA. And in a three-team series where everyone plays each other once, anything can happen.
The Owls are hoping it will.
“We are like New Jersey in the playoffs. We play solid defence and look for a break,” said MacDonald, adding he feels it’s unfair for them to be categorized as a “dump-an-chase” team.
“We can play with the big schools–beating Beaver Brae was the cherry on the sundae,” he enthused.
Part of both teams’ success has been the addition of three players apiece from the Sturgeon Creek Alternative Program in Stratton. RRHS athletic director Guy Arpin said that–and the energy the coaches and players have put back in the program–were the difference this season.
“The last couple of years we had a problem with coaches coming out but now we have energy and enthusiasm back into the program,” he remarked.
Still, Ogden, whose team will lose just three players to graduation, credited the players for the program’s turnaround. “All the credit goes back to the kids, who have developed a [strong] work ethic,” he stressed.