Mitch Calvert
The Muskie girls’ soccer team was thrown right into the fire over the weekend with a three-game series against Thunder Bay teams, returning with just one win but a number of valuable lessons learned.
The team opened play Friday versus St. Patrick, dropping a 5-0 decision to the formidable squad.
“The girls played all right,” first-year Muskie coach Sarah Noonan said. “[St. Pat’s] is a strong team, always No. 1 or 2 in Thunder Bay, so we were fortunate to play them.”
The team regrouped on Saturday morning, doubling up the same St. Pat’s team 4-2.
“Churchill didn’t end up getting the approval to use their field, but luckily St. Pat’s agreed to play us [again] Saturday morning so that we could get our third game in,” Noonan explained.
“We matched up with St. Pat’s in the morning,” she noted. “A few of their senior players couldn’t make it, so [they] put some of their younger girls in the game and it was more evenly matched.”
Sara Roach scored on a penalty kick while her sister, Courtney, found the back of the net twice.
Emma Elliot added the other goal for the black-and-gold.
“We started creating more offensive chances for ourselves, getting shots on net and putting them in, so that was good to see,” Noonan enthused.
The Muskies then hit the pitch for their third and final game that afternoon, losing 3-0 to Hammarskjold.
“We had three subs on the sidelines for this weekend, lots of kids in the musical [‘Aida’] here, but it was a great opportunity because everyone got tons of minutes on the field,” Noonan remarked.
“We were really able to figure out our 4-4-2 system, and each game I could really see the girls progressing and getting more confident and connecting out there.”
Despite the mixed results on the scoreboard, Noonan said the experience was a valuable one and will help the team moving forward.
“It was a great opportunity for us to get some games in before starting NorWOSSA play [today],” Noonan reasoned. “Our whole crew will be back with us this week, and we can get everyone on track and prepared for the season.”
After hosting Dryden at 9:30 a.m. this morning, the girls were back on the pitch at 3:30 p.m. versus Kenora to conclude their season-opening double-header.
The black-and-gold will be in Dryden a week from today for their next NorWOSSA action.
