Joey Payeur
Not having much finish pretty much finished off the Muskie boys’ soccer team.
The black-and-gold returned from the St. John’s/Ravenscourt Eagles’ pre-season tournament in Winnipeg over the weekend carrying an 0-3 mark and with just two goals total to show for their efforts.
Fear not, said head coach Chris Sinclair–things are not as rough as they seem.
“Overall, I was pleased with our play for the most part of the weekend,” noted Sinclair, whose squad lost 5-0 in the consolation semi-final to the Vincent Massey Vikings (Brandon).
“We played some really good teams this weekend,” he remarked. “They all had really good touches, moved the ball nicely, and capitalized on their chances.
“Having said that, I thought we outplayed our opposition in the first two games but it came down to finishing.”
The Muskies opened play with a 1-0 loss to the Dakota Lancers (Winnipeg), who scored the game’s only goal late in the first half after converting a cross into the 18-yard box that beat starting keeper Cole Kowalski.
The squad was forced to play a man down from the three-minute mark on after getting a red card.
“I thought we played really well considering that,” said Sinclair, who switched to Jacob Albright in goal for the second half.
“The first half we played nervous and intimidated almost, but definitely calmed down in the second half,” he added.
Next up were the Garden City Gophers (Winnipeg), who built a 3-0 halftime lead against Albright, then withstood a furious Muskie rally in the second half to earn a 3-2 decision and relegate Fort High to the consolation bracket.
“The first goal they scored was a nice individual effort by their player making some nice moves,” Sinclair recalled.
“However, we made it harder on ourselves by lunging at the ball and not staying in front of the attacker.
“They scored two more on nice shots from just outside the 18-yard box,” he added.
Sinclair not only turned to Kowalski in goal in the second half, but also put a second striker upfield to try and generate some much-needed offence.
“I thought we played really well and played in their half of the field for the whole second half of the game,” he noted.
“We pressured the ball really well, taking away their time and space, and that’s the kind of soccer that I want us to play,” Sinclair stressed.
“We were able to generate a lot by using the width of the field and sending balls into the corners, allowing us to attack from the outside in.”
Connor Nelson and Aaron Bujold tallied to bring the Muskies within striking distance of the Gophers before running out of time.
“We had a few more real good chances to tie it up and also take the lead, but again didn’t capitalize,” Sinclair reiterated.
Sinclair stuck to a two-striker formation against Vincent Massey for the first 15 minutes and saw his team control the ball.
But the Vikings’ first good scoring chance ended when they drilled home a rebound from close in after Kowalski had made the initial save.
Another goal soon after left the Muskies reeling by halftime.
“They got another right away, which kind of deflated us,” conceded Sinclair, who put Albright back in goal for the second half.
“We had to make a push to score but couldn’t make it happen,” he said.
“And when you are pushing for offence, it’s taking a risk defensively and obviously it didn’t pan out for us as we allowed three more goals in the second half.”
Still, Sinclair saw no end of positives for his crew–even though it didn’t translate into wins.
“Everyone got lots of playing time, allowing us to get our first-year players some experience playing against very good teams, which is only going to help us if we can make it to OFSAA,” he reasoned.
“This weekend was very beneficial to us preparing for our season,” Sinclair added.
“It allowed us to play a few different formations in different situations, and gave us a chance to play some guys in some different spots, giving us a lot of different options.
“The SJR tournament is always great competition for us, which is great to have going into our season as it allows us to see how we have to play to be successful,” he noted.
“We obviously have some things to work on, both offensively and defensively, but all in all, I thought we played really well.
“Not only did we use the weekend for soccer experience, it was a great weekend of team bonding, which will only bring the boys closer together,” Sinclair said.
Both the Muskie boys’ and girls’ soccer teams were in action today as they hosted the Kenora Broncos and Dryden Eagles to kick off the NorWOSSA regular season.
Fort High then travels to Kenora for another pair of doubleheaders next Wednesday (May 10).
