Joey Payeur
With two shooters from each side already having missed in the penalty kick shootout, and with an anxious parent and a collection of breath-holding players eyeballing her every move, Jamie Spencer could have been excused if she felt a little nervous.
After all, that’s a truckload of pressure for any athlete—never mind someone who hasn’t even reached their 10th birthday yet.
But Spencer was one cool customer with the game on the line and blasted home what would be the only goal of the shootout as the Robert Moore Mustangs #2 squad edged St. Michael’s #1 by a 2-1 margin in the title game of the Field #2 Division at the Crossroads School Grade 3 soccer tournament in Devlin last Thursday.
With her mom and former Muskie girls’ soccer coach Caroline Spencer watching from the sidelines, Jamie Spencer’s marker proved to be the difference for the Mustangs after St. Michael’s was stymied on their final shootout attempt.
The match was one of three first-place games played on three separate fields at the 12-team event, which saw Crossroads Grade 8 teacher and tourney organizer Brad Gushulak introduce a significant format change this year.
Instead of previous years, where only one tournament title had been up for grabs, Gushulak split the event into three mini-tournaments involving four teams each from the Rainy River District, allowing every team involved to participate in a playoff game.
The concept proved to be successful in terms of boosting all the teams’ chances at success as every one of the five schools represented at the tourney won at least one of the six playoff games.
The win by Robert Moore was sweet revenge for a 1-0 loss to St. Michael’s in their preliminary-round meeting, which ended up giving St. Michael’s (3-0) first place in the division over the Mustangs (2-1).
In other preliminary round play on Field #2, Robert Moore #2 edged Crossroads Tornadoes #2 (0-2-1) by a score of 1-0 while St. Michael’s beat J.W. Walker Wildcats #2 2-0, Crossroads and J.W. Walker battled to a 0-0 tie, Robert Moore topped J.W. Walker 3-1, and St. Michael’s blanked Crossroads 1-0.
In the third-place game on Field #2, after having been held off the scoresheet all day, the host Tornadoes finally struck paydirt offensively and then held off a valiant comeback attempt by J.W. Walker in earning a 1-0 victory.
That was the opposite result to what transpired in the championship game in the Field #1 Division as J.W. Walker #1 capped a perfect day with a tight 1-0 blanking of Crossroads #1.
Donald Young School from Emo earned a 4-0 shutout over Robert Moore #1 in the third-place game.
In preliminary-round play on Field #1, Crossroads blanked Robert Moore 1-0, J.W. Walker nipped Donald Young 1-0, who then turned around and blitzed Robert Moore 7-0, and Crossroads and J.W. Walker fought to a scoreless draw.
Then after the Wildcats beat the Mustangs 1-0, Crossroads created a tie for top spot with J.W. Walker at 2-0-1 by shutting out Donald Young 1-0.
DYS finished third in the round robin at 1-2, followed by Robert Moore (0-3).
Finally, in the Field #3 Division, the St. Michael’s #2 express tore up the track all day, completing its impressive journey with a 2-0 victory in the title game over J.W. Walker #3.
St. Michael’s went a perfect 3-0 to finish first in the preliminary round and, combined with its effort in the final, outscored its opponents 14-0 in its four games.
They beat J.W. Walker #4 7-0, got past Robert Moore #3 2-0, and then closed the door on J.W. Walker #3 3-0 before applying the finishing touch in the final.
Other preliminary-round scores included J.W. Walker #3 over Robert Moore #3 2-0, J.W. Walker #3 blanking J.W. Walker #4 2-0, and Robert Moore #3 getting past J.W. Walker #4 2-0.
The Wildcats finished second in the division at 2-1, with Robert Moore #3 in third (1-2) and J.W. Walker #4 in fourth (0-3).
In the third-place game, J.W. Walker #shook off their losing blues and eked out a 2-1 win over Robert Moore #3.
