Joey Payeur
The Muskie boys’ soccer team was running hard all weekend.
But by this past Sunday, the black-and-gold were just running out of bodies and running on fumes.
With their two top defenders out of the lineup, Fort Frances fell 3-0 to the Crocus Plains Plainsmen (Brandon) in the final of the Broncos Challenge Cup tournament in Kenora.
“They were a very good team that moved the ball really well,” said Muskies coach Chris Sinclair about Crocus Plains.
“They switched fields constantly on us which gave us problems,” he added.
“I think by our final game, we were just too tired with two long days in the sun and five games in the two days.”
Cole Kowalski took the loss in net.
The Muskies had to face the Plainsmen without Liam Metke, who was accidentally struck in the head by another player’s foot during the Fort’s 1-0 semifinal win over the University of Winnipeg Wesmen high school varsity team.
Also missing was fellow veteran Chase McGuire, who was suspended for the game by tournament officials after picking up a red card in the semifinal which was decided on Cam Lidkea’s long-distance strike.
“We played a very good defensive game,” praised Sinclair about his team’s work in the semifinal.
“We didn’t really give them too many good chances and were able to keep them to the outside,” he detailed.
“(The Wesmen) were a very good team and obviously, it was a great team effort.
Kowalski saved the day in the second half by stopping a Winnipeg penalty kick.
The Muskies were edged 2-1 by Crocus Plains to start the tourney, with McGuire connecting on a lengthy kick for the only Fort goal while Jacob Albright took the loss in goal.
“We started out slow and . . . almost intimidated by the way they moved the ball, but calmed down and played a really good game,” reviewed Sinclair.
“We had a chance to win in the last few minutes, but missed on a penalty kick and then they scored in the final play from a corner kick,” he described.
“It was a nice ball in to the far post and they got a head on it.
“Just the way it goes sometimes, but we played a really good team and showed we can compete with them.”
Jake Clendenning converted a McGuire corner kick to give his squad the 1-0 victory over the Sioux Lookout Warriors in its second outing, with Kowalski nabbing the shutout.
“I was happy with how we played, considering we controlled the play for most the game, but would have liked to develop more quality scoring chances,” conceded Sinclair.
It was mostly all systems go in the Muskies’ third game as they pummeled a significantly weaker side in the Springs Christian Academy Eagles (Winnipeg) by a count of 7-0.
“They had lost their first two games by a lot, so we knew going in that they were the weaker of the teams,” proclaimed Sinclair.
“We started well and got a goal early, but then kind of got
sloppy and got away from moving the ball.”
The Fort even missed a penalty kick to leave the score 1-0 at halftime, then exploded for six unanswered tallies in the second half.
“The floodgates kind of opened,” said a modest Sinclair, whose team was led by Aaron Bujold with a pair of goals and singles from Lidkea, Connor Nelson, Ethan Jourdain, Blake Jones and Joey Angus to complement the doughnut Albright served up from between the pipes.
Last Wednesday (May 10) in Kenora, the Fort took care of the business of locking up first place in NorWOSSA a week early, defeating the Kenora Broncos and Dryden Eagles by matching 2-1 margins.
With the pair of wins, the Muskies (4-0) are eight points up on second-place Dryden (1-2-1), which can’t catch the Fort even with two three-point wins and two Muskie losses in their final two games.
That translates into an automatic bye to the NorWOSSA final in Kenora next Wednesday (May 24), with the Eagles and Broncos bound for a semifinal confrontation earlier that day.
McGuire and Bujold had the goals against Kenora (0-3-1), with Kowalski earning the win in net.
It was McGuire again with another goal from Nick Hahkala (his team-leading fourth of the year) that did the damage against Dryden, while Kowalski earned his second victory of the day.
The three NorWOSSA teams meet each other again in the regular-season finale in Dryden today.
