Mitch Calvert
The Kenora Broncos look to have a leg up on the Muskie boys’ soccer team—and the black-and-gold have less than a month to figure out how to solve the riddle.
The Broncos blanked the Muskies 2-0 in the semi-final of a tournament up there over the weekend, giving Beaver Brae a perfect 3-0 record in tournament and league play versus Fort High so far this season.
“Mental toughness is the riddle to solve,” Muskie head coach Shane Beckett said of his team’s struggles with the Broncos.
“We have given up goals in the final minutes of the last three games,” he noted. “We need to stay mentally sharp for the full 80 minutes.”
The Muskies then lost 2-1 in overtime to St. Thomas Aquinas (Kenora) in the bronze-medal game to wind up fourth.
The black-and-gold had opened the tournament the same way it ended, with a 2-1 loss to Aquinas, but then strung together back-to-back wins over Vincent Massey of Brandon, Man. (2-1) and Crocus Plains, Man. (1-0) to advance to the semi-finals.
“The Vincent Massey team from Brandon was a very nice team, great on the ball and very well coached,” Beckett said.
“They defeated Beaver Brae 4-0 in the finals of the [Kenora] tournament and they finished third at the [St. John’s-Ravenscourt] tournament.
“The win over them showed us what we are capable of, and we started to learn how to utilize our strengths on the field,” Beckett continued. “Massey could not handle our high pressure and our speed.
“We defended very well, keeping them high and wide and when given an opportunity, we took advantage.”
The Muskies were without Mitch Cain for the weekend tournament in Kenora, although his absence gave other players the chance to take on expanded roles.
“We saw that Kyle Herr can be a real threat as a forward, and with Mitch back, we may have a thing or two up our sleeves that we may look at during the games in Dryden this week [Wednesday],” Beckett noted.
The boys had opened NorWOSSA play with a pair of hard-fought losses here last Wednesday.
They lost their morning game to the Dryden Eagles—staking themselves to 1-0 and 2-1 leads before falling 3-2.
Garnet Cornell took advantage of a misread by the Dryden keeper to score the game’s first goal, then Justin Bujold connected on a penalty kick (created when Cornell was tripped in the box) to regain the lead after the Eagles had tied it.
But two goals in the second half would give the Eagles the victory.
The Muskies then fell 1-0 to Kenora in their afternoon showdown.
“We were missing guys, one due to ineligibility [Jon Sinclair], Mitch Cain was at a hockey identification camp, and Tim Metke was sick, too, so it wasn’t a full roster, that’s for sure, plus minus both of our keepers,” Beckett lamented.
“We know that soccer’s No. 2 to most people around here, so you have to live with it,” he laughed.
On a serious note, Beckett said mental mistakes are really costing the team right now.
“The three goals that Kenora scored on us [prior to the Kenora tournament], twice it’s been us putting the ball in the net, so staying consistent from whistle to whistle is going to be important going forward,” he stressed.
Keeper Jameson Shortreed left the morning game with a knee injury while the Muskies’ other goalie, Matt DePeiro, already was on the injured list with a foot injury he suffered in practice.
That forced Cody Vangel between the pipes.
“[Vangel] had a couple of huge stops and controlled the box, and for a kid who only played a game or two of youth league [as a goalie] he stepped up,” Beckett enthused.
“We battled really hard and left it all on the field [against Kenora], and that’s all you can ask for.
“If they would’ve played with that kind of energy against Dryden, it may have been a different result,” Beckett added. “But full marks to Dryden, they out-hustled us and beat us to balls.”
Meanwhile, Sinclair’s eligibility issues have been resolved and the team should have a near-complete lineup in place today in Dryden for a double-header against their two NorWOSSA rivals.
