‘Defence wins championships,’ says Gilson

In past seasons, the goal of the Muskie girls’ soccer team was to advance to the all-Ontarios.
Not so this year–because the black-and-gold already have qualified for the 16-team provincial tournament coming up in June as the host squad.
But while the pressure of advancing is gone, Muskie head coach Struchan Gilson already has started on his mission to turn this year’s edition into an all-Ontario calibre team.
And he admits it won’t be an easy task.
“We’re going to beat teams [at OFSAA] but we’re not going win the whole thing, we have to be realistic,” Gilson said late last week.
In the meantime, the Muskies still want to win yet another NorWOSSA crown and then beat Thunder Bay for the NWOSSAA title–a feat that’s eluded Gilson’s troops the past few seasons.
“We want to win NWOSSAA straight up and go to OFSAA as league reps but St. Pat’s should be very strong,” said Gilson. “Yes, I have the team to win NorWOSSA for sure.”
But the Muskies will use a much different system than in the past. Always quick to emphasize the offensive aspects of the game, Gilson now will be stressing team defence this season.
It’s a change underscored by their new 4-4-2 alignment.
“Offence wins games and defence wins championships,” said Gilson. “In the past, we have played attacking soccer but this new system, which has four backs, emphasizes defence.”
The new system will be in the hands of first-year defensive coaches Sabrina McCoy and Paul Redford.
“We’re getting acquainted with the new system and the players are developing [with it],” said Redford, adding it takes a bit of adjusting to get used to.
The black-and-gold will get a first-hand look at how that system will work when they travel to Winnipeg for a St. John’s Ravenscourt tournament April 28-29.
As for offence, the Muskies no doubt will be strong up front again this season with scoring star Laureen Cousineau and Christine Thomson. They’ll be counted on to provide the bulk of the team’s scoring and they’ll have to do just that if the black-and-gold expect to be competitive at the all-Ontarios.
“We have our best players on the field there,” said Gilson, referring to the striker position. Cousineau, in particular, has proven to be arguably the best pure goal scorer in Northwestern Ontario.
When she’s scoring, the Muskies are winning.
Both Thomson and Cousineau once again will get the ball in the middle of the field from speedy veterans like Susie Grynol and Sarah Vanderplaats on the wings.
Defensively, the Muskies should be okay once they get used to the new system. Veteran Christine Noonan and Sarah McTavish, who has impressed Gilson by “dominating” practices so far, should bolster the team’s defence.
Also playing a big role back on defence will be the likes of Alyssa Green and Lindsay Roy.
“We have very knowledgeable players back there,” said Redford. “They’re working into the system really well and the fewer goals the other team scores, the happier I am.”