Joey Payeur
If Cole Kowalski feels the need to furnish his goal crease, he probably can start with a recliner.
Kowalski was given little to do thanks to the suffocating defence his team played in front of him as the Muskie boys’ soccer team opened the NorWOSSA regular season here last Wednesday.
The black-and-gold barely let their opponents spend any time in their half of the field in either a 2-0 victory over the Dryden Eagles or the subsequent 7-0 shellacking of the Kenora Broncos.
“Cole did his job whenever the ball came near,” grinned new Muskie head coach Chris Sinclair.
“He did a good job communicating with the defence and they did a better job as the day went on in getting the ball back to him, which helped spread out the field and gave our mid-fielders more space,” he added.
Fort High (2-0) had an underwhelming first half against Dryden (0-1-1) despite scoring just five minutes in on a penalty kick by Kevin Metke after he was dragged down in the Eagles’ 18-yard box.
“Kevin’s one of our key offensive players up front,” noted Faragher.”
“His speed and his ability to see the field makes him really efficient, and he proved that throughout the day.”
The Muskies played a better brand of ball possession in the second half, with Max Williams adding an insurance goal in the 65th minute when he cracked a shot from the top right corner of the Dryden box past keeper Gunnar Anderson.
In the second game, the Broncos (0-1-1) got a clear vision of what they were in for just two minutes into the game when Metke burst around Noah Witzke before labelling a shot just over the crossbar.
Muskies mid-fielder Ian Jodoin then made his presence felt twice within three minutes on a pair of long-range free kicks.
The first one was knocked down by Kenora keeper Wes Penner, but the rebound lay loose for Williams to rush in and park it in the top right corner of the net.
Then Jodoin saved everyone the trouble of cleaning up his own shot—sailing a 35-yarder beyond the leaping Penner’s fingertips.
In the 19th minute, Williams worked his way through two defenders on the right wing before placing a perfect pass on the foot of the hard-charging Joey Angus.
Angus then stepped into a shot from 10 yards out that buried itself in the low left corner behind Penner.
Faragher rotated in several of his younger players at that point and the score remained 3-0 at halftime.
Just over 10 minutes into the second half, though, the veteran core returned to its blitzkrieg of the Broncos’ defences with a three-goal barrage in only five minutes.
Williams scored his second as he cashed in a rebound in the 55th minute.
He then finished off his hat trick in the 58th minute with a no-doubter from the left side of the Kenora box.
Jodoin basically copied Williams’ shot as his strike from almost the same spot hit paydirt in the 60th minute for his second of the game and a 6-0 lead.
“Max and Ian are obviously guys we rely on,” said Sinclair.
“For us to have success, they have to be the guys piling up the goals,” he noted.
“They’re our leaders. . . .
“I have been saying to them repeatedly in practice don’t be afraid to take the shot no matter where you are,” Sinclair added.
“I know what they’re capable of and maybe hearing that will give them confidence throughout the season.”
Adam Stromberg tallied from 10 yards out in the 78th minutes to round out the scoring.
Fort High travelled to Dryden today for another two-game set against the Eagles and Broncos without Sinclair, due to the current labour dispute between local high school teachers and the Rainy River District School Board.
Assistant coach Kaleb Firth made the trek to Dryden to oversee the team.
