Muskie girls off to all-Ontarios

The Muskies girls’ soccer team will be heading to Collingwood on the weekend for the all-Ontario showdown, which runs June 9-11 at Jean Vanier Catholic High School.
The girls advanced to the 20-team tournament after a 2-0 shutout over the host Kenora Broncos in the NorWOSSA final last Wednesday, and now hope to put the finishing touches on what has been a successful season so far.
Coach Adam Craig has mixed expectations going into OFSAA, but feels it’s an excellent opportunity for his team to get more experience under their collective belts.
“We’re going to go with [a] team mentality,” Craig said. “Everyone is going to get an opportunity to play and obviously we’re going to put our best foot forward.
“But it’s hard to know how we’re going to do because of the quality of soccer here,” he admitted, referring to the fact the Muskies only play two other teams regularly at the NorWOSSA level.
Fort High, in Pool ‘D,’ will kick things off Monday at 10 a.m. (EDT) against the host Jean Vanier team.
Coach Liz Payton said her squad won’t be the highest scoring team in the tournament, but they are led by keeper Justine Bennett and sweeper Cassandra Ironside.
“We’re a very competitive team,” Payton told John Edwards on www.simcoe.com. “Our keeper is fantastic and we have one of the best sweepers in Ontario.”
The black-and-gold then will have to face St. Jean de Brebeuf (Vaughan) at 1 p.m. (EDT).
Their third game will follow Tuesday at 8 a.m. (EDT) when they square off against the representative of the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference, which was still to be determined as of press time last night.
The black-and-gold then will wrap up the round-robin portion of the tournament at 12:30 p.m. (EDT) on Tuesday against Holy Trinity (Courtice).
The quarter-finals will begin that same evening, with semi-finals and the bronze- and gold-medal games slated for Wednesday.
The Muskie boys’ soccer team, meanwhile, had to settle for the silver medal at the NorWOSSA playoffs last Wednesday in Kenora.
The squad opened the day with a 3-1 win over the Dryden Eagles in the semi-finals, then came out on the short end of that same score against the undefeated Kenora Broncos in the final.