Joey Payeur
Knowing one gave their all can be a reward unto itself.
Sometimes it’s the only one to be had.
The Muskie girls’ soccer team left their hearts on the field but had to take heart in their effort rather than their 0-4 record, which left them in last place in Pool ‘D’ at the OFSAA ‘AA’ championships last week in Wallaceburg.
“I thought the girls played well and I’m so proud of what they accomplished,” said Alyssa Faragher, who handled the coaching reins with Sarah Faragher unable to attend due to work commitments.
“We made every team we faced work for what they got,” she noted.
“The girls realized they’re not in this tournament just because they could beat Dryden or Kenora to get here.”
After a 2-0 loss to the eighth-ranked host Tartans in their opening game last Thursday, the unseeded Muskies traded goals in frenzied fashion with the St. Paul Wolverines (Mississauga) before falling 4-3 that afternoon.
Maggie Jean, who netted the game-winner in Fort High’s lone win at OFSAA last year, opened the scoring early in the first half when she converted a cross into the 18-yard box into the net.
“The girls were very excited to get the lead,” said Faragher. “But right after that, St. Paul’s must have told themselves, ‘That’s not happening [again].’”
The Wolverines stormed the Muskies’ net for the rest of the half and put a pair of goals past veteran keeper Liz Allan to go up 2-1.
Faragher then decided to use a tactic after halftime that had worked so well when the Muskies defended their NorWOSSA title with a 2-1 win over Dryden here back on May 27.
She switched veteran defensive fullback Angel McCormack to midfield and gave her the green light to attack St. Paul’s defence.
McCormack was more than willing to oblige and used an expertly-timed header off of Claire Hyatt’s on-target corner kick to tie the contest.
Only minutes later, Myla Angus used her speed to force the Wolverines to drag her down in the 18-yard box.
That led to a penalty kick, which McCormack rocketed into the net for her second of the game and a 3-2 Muskie lead.
But St. Paul wouldn’t back down—netting the equalizer on a shot from outside the 18-yard box.
With McCormack not manning her usual defensive post, the Wolverines took advantage to launch a deep rush late in the game before ripping the ball past Bryanna Dustin, who had replaced Allan to start the second half.
“It was a little bit disappointing to let that one slip away,” admitted Faragher.
“But our girls were awesome sports the whole week and when we got together with St. Paul’s for our traditional pic of both teams that we do at OFSAA, our girls were saying, ‘We hate them less for losing to them because we know we can compete with them.’”
Cognizant of the fact a third loss would dash any hopes of a quarter-final berth by finishing in the top two of their pool, the Muskies went into a pressure cooker test against the fourth-seeded St. Mary’s College Knights (Sault Ste. Marie) on Friday morning.
With a game-time temperature of 32 C, Fort High melted under the heat of the task—giving up three second-half goals to lose 4-0.
“We rotated in our subs quite often,” noted Faragher.
“But when you’ve got Grade 9s out there, you haven’t got the same level of experience on the field,” she noted.
“[Dustin] must have had 15 or 16 saves,” Faragher marvelled about her rookie keeper, who again came on for Allan after halftime.
“St. Mary’s apologized after the game for trying to run up the score but they said they needed a big goal differential to get second place in the pool.”
Fort High was looking to match its win total from last year at OFSAA in its final pool game later Friday but were handed a 5-1 loss by the unseeded Bayside Red Devils (Quinte West), who eventually finished as the tournament’s bronze-medalists.
Erin Tomalty netted the lone goal on a penalty kick late in the second half.
“Bayside was very strong and beat everyone in our pool,” noted Faragher, who went with Allan from start to finish in what was the Grade 12 player’s final high school match.
“Liz played so well,” the coach lauded. “She must have seen 20 shots in the first half and they were only up 1-0 at the half.”
The Muskies played the whole game with McCormack up at striker and Hailey Beaudry as the left midfielder as a farewell reward to the two other Grade 12 players on the team.
“We want them to play hard but to have fun out there, too,” reasoned Faragher.
The Muskies did emerge victorious in one department—capturing the soccer trivia contest held at the pre-tournament banquet.
They also are waiting to hear if they held onto their title from a year ago as the most sportsmanlike team at OFSAA.
With only three players set to graduate, that leaves the possibility of 17 returning players next season, who now will have at least one year—and many of them two years—of OFSAA experience under their belts.
“That’s really going to help our development since we’ll have so many who know what it takes to get to OFSAA,” said Faragher.
“It’s always a good experience to go to a tournament like that.”
