Muskie boys’ Cinderella season ends

For a season that was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Muskie boys’ soccer team, the black-and-gold almost came home NorWOSSA champions.
But a second-half collapse against the Beaver Brae Broncos put an end to their Cinderella season last Thursday in Kenora.
The Broncos took advantage of a weary Muskie lineup that started to feel the effects of a few nagging injuries, and simply too much soccer in such a short period of time.
Five games in just two days will do that.
“I was watching our team at half-time and the life was sucked out of them. It was quiet and there was no life,” said Muskie assistant coach Jason Kabel.
“With three games in one day, your game is going to suffer and I sensed that some didn’t want to play anymore and I don’t blame them,” he added.
But the Muskies certainly played like they wanted to be on the field in the first half of the final, especially in the first 10 minutes when Adam McTavish gave the black-and-gold that all-important first goal against the favoured Broncos.
Kenora then scored the next two goals before Dave Egan banged home a shot from 30 yards to tie the game at 2-2 at half-time.
“The first half was excellent soccer, both ways,” said Muskie head coach Keith Gilbert. “It was a really hard-fought game. We have no regrets–they made us and Fort High proud.”
But it was the Broncos’ depth that appeared to take over in the second half as they scored three unanswered goals to capture the NorWOSSA title.
“They deserve to be [at NWOSSAA]. They did have a lot of chances,” said Gilbert, adding keeper Ryan Hampton played a strong game for the Muskies.
“But the 5-2 score seems to be more of a blowout than it was. For three-quarters of the game it was close, it was good soccer,” he stressed.
Gilbert and Kabel both agreed part of their second-half collapse may have stemmed from their hard-fought 1-0 win over the surprising Rainy River Owls in the semi-finals earlier Thursday.
The Muskies managed to eke out the nail-biter on Jeremy Wilson’s goal with about three minutes to go in regulation time.
The black-and-gold had countless chances to score, especially in the second half, but couldn’t get that first goal. And the final result was a draining victory that finally caught up to the Muskies in the final.
Still, Gilbert said he was quite pleased with their season.
“In the end, we went into this thing with the youngest team we’ve ever seen and they proved to us that you can be successful with a young and inexperienced team,” said Gilbert.
“I think a season that ends with this type of a finished product is the most satisfying,” he added.
Kabel agreed this was one of the better seasons in terms of improvement for the Muskies–from the opening whistle in Winnipeg to that final loss in Kenora.
“I was very happy with the season and I was very pleased with the effort,” he remarked.
“It was a growing year, a building year, [and] in the back of my mind, I knew this was a young and inexperienced team but a talented team–a team that could do damage if we use that talent,” he added.
And the Muskies will be that much more experienced when next season rolls around, leaving them optimistic NorWOSSA gold is not out of the realm of possibility.
Guys like Christian Gagnon and Kyle McTavish will all have another year under their belts and should be a good fit with the likes of Nathan Miller, Steve Keesic, and Adam McTavish.
“These guys played some of the best soccer we’ve seen in years,” said Gilbert. “This year was a lot of fun.”