Kenora squad tops Curves

The women’s final of the Borderland Soccer League’s annual “Ball Blast’ tournament on Sunday featured two teams with a great deal of respect for one another.
Kenora United came into the final undefeated in round-robin action and looking to avenge an overtime loss in last year’s championship game.
Their opponent—Curves (Fort Frances)—also were looking for revenge having suffered only one loss during the round-robin (a 3-2 setback to Kenora).
Both captains knew their teams would need to be at their best if they were to take home the championship.
“We were a little bit confident, but we had also played this team before in the tournament so we knew we had to be on our top game,” United captain Michelle Kipling said.
“We played them in the round-robin and had a good competition against them,” echoed Curves’ captain Jodi Easton. “We figured we may be meeting them in the end and we did.”
Kenora United came out strong against Curves, dominating the first half of play.
They maintained possession of the ball throughout, advancing in waves and producing quality shots while Curves did their best to keep the game scoreless.
“They were first to the ball a lot,” Easton said of United’s strong play in the first half.
“We weren’t making good passes,” she added. “They were constantly in front of us.”
The relentless pressure eventually paid off for United as striker Bailey Ostenfeld buried a rebound following two quality saves by Curves’ keeper Ashley McFarland, giving the visitors a 1-0 lead.
Curves responded well to the challenge of being down a goal as they increased their offensive productivity, but were unable to even the score before the referee whistled halftime.
The start of the second half saw a similar storyline as that of the first—albeit with the two teams exchanging roles.
Curves came out running hard, taking the play to their opponents and generating several quality scoring chances.
The home side then got the break they were looking for when striker Kate Basaraba took a pass and fired a hard shot into the upper left-hand corner of the net to knot the game at 1-1.
“We came out [strong] and I think that was a bit of a surprise for both teams,” Easton said of the team’s strong second half start. “We’re not usually a team that comes out second half full out and scores a goal.
“We’re usually early starters and sometimes if we lose it, it will be in the second half,” she admitted.
As was the case in the first half, the goal sparked the team on the defensive back into action.
United were relentless in their attack, producing quality scoring chance after quality scoring chance in search of the go-ahead goal.
The home team, meanwhile, was scrambling in their end. Had it not been for the stellar play of McFarland, the score easily could have gotten out of hand quickly.
United eventually did net a pair of late goals, from Kelly Alcock and Joelle Charlebois, respectively, to give them a 3-1 victory and the women’s championship.
After the game, however, both sides raved about McFarland’s strong play in goal.
“Their keeper played excellent the whole game,” Kipling said. “We did have our chances with her but she played awesome.”
“They [United] had so many scoring chances and the ones they had were sick,” Easton said of her teammate’s performance. “We owe a lot to her.”
Kenora United began their march towards the championship with a 3-2 victory over Curves in round-robin play Saturday afternoon.
Then they defeated the Replacements 1-0 to assure themselves top seed in Pool ‘A’ and a playoff match-up against the second place team in Pool ‘B.’
In the elimination round, United crushed Gillons’ 9-0 in the semi-finals to earn a berth in the final.
Curves had opened round-robin play with a 2-1 victory over the Replacements before dropping their second game to Kenora United.
They then defeated Gleesons (Thunder Bay) 3-2 in the semi-finals to earn themselves a rematch with Kenora.
Kenora United took home $1,100 for the win while Curves earned $600 as tournament runner-up.
Gleesons pocketed $300 for their third-place finish.