Mitch Calvert
It was a golden day for the Muskie boys’ and girls’ soccer squads at the NorWOSSA playoffs here yesterday.
The boys first blanked the Dryden Eagles 2-0 in the semi-final yesterday morning, then upset the top-seeded Kenora Broncos 1-0 in the final that afternoon to earn their first OFSAA berth since 2006.
Mitch Cain orchestrated a give-and-go play between himself and Jon Sinclair midway through the second overtime period before finishing the play off himself to break the scoreless game against the Broncos.
“[Jon and I] have been working together really well over the past couple weeks,” Cain said after the game. “He sent me a beautiful through ball and I just got a piece of it and kicked it as hard as I could, and it fortunately went in.”
The overtime format was not sudden death, meaning the black-and-gold still had to kill off the remaining five minutes of the extra period to send the Broncos back home empty-handed.
“The last couple minutes took forever,” Muskie head coach Shane Beckett admitted. “But like we’ve been saying since Day 1, it’s who wins on the last day.
“We knew we had to peak at the right time, and what a testament to the guys playing two games in a matter of six hours, go for 20 minutes of extra time with basically 13-14 guys, and still come out with the win,” Beckett lauded.
“It just shows the heart and commitment those guys have to the program.”
Cain and Sinclair scored two early goals against the Eagles in the morning match-up before the Muskies put down the clamps and limited the visitors to few quality scoring chances.
Keeper Matt DePiero earned the shutout in both games—coming up with key saves when the Broncos pushed late in regulation time for the winner.
The all-Ontarios are slated June 4-6 in Hamilton.
The Muskie girls, meanwhile, went into the NorWOSSA playoffs as the top seed and lived up to that billing, downing Dryden 2-0 in the final later yesterday afternoon.
Sara Roach scored two goals late in the first half to pace Fort High to the victory—despite injuries to key players Nicole Mueller and Anikka McTavish.
“Jolene Stahn crossed both of them in and Sara finished both of them off,” Muskie coach Sarah Noonan said of the two quick goals.
“Missing Nicole and Anikka was definitely a void for us, but the girls who went out and replaced [them] made the transition seamless.
“We wanted to go out and play solid Muskie soccer and we did,” Noonan added.
The squad won’t have far to go to the all-Ontarios this year, with Kenora hosting the provincial showdown June 4-6.
Despite losing yesterday’s semi-final 1-0 to the Eagles, the Broncos will compete at OFSAA at the tournament host.
