Mitch Calvert
The Muskie girls’ soccer team is coming off a successful run to the all-Ontarios a season ago—and hopes to duplicate that feat with much of last year’s returning.
“They went to OFSAA last year and we have that same goal for this year with a lot of strong leaders from both Grade 11 and 12 returning,” first-year head coach Sarah Noonan remarked.
Noonan, along with first-year assistant Adam Scott, are both new to Fort High girls’ soccer program but both experienced with the sport.
“I didn’t realize he [Scott] had such a soccer background, so it was lucky for us to get him,” Noonan said.
“We’re stepping into a great program with a lot of good returning players,” she added. “I was excited to take the step this year and run the girls’ program with Coach Scott.
“The girls have responded very positively and seem pumped for the season.”
Scott, who moved to Fort Frances four years ago from southern Ontario, has a soccer background both as a player and coach.
“I played fairly competitive soccer my whole life, and coached girls’ soccer down east at Napanee high school, and I’ve coached some youth soccer here,” he noted.
“I’m really honoured to be part of the tradition that is Muskie athletics.
“I was amazed at the following of Muskie sports when I moved to town,” Scott added. “I remember playing high school sports and having two people in the stands, my mom and my dad, and that was because they drove all the kids to the games.
“Being still relatively new in town, it gives me the opportunity to get involved in the community and volunteer my time,” he reasoned.
Noonan, meanwhile, was an assistant coach alongside Shane Beckett with the Muskie boys’ soccer team last year, and also helped coach the boys’ basketball team with her dad, Paul, this past winter.
“Working with guys and girls is a little bit different, both very rewarding in their own ways,” Noonan said.
The squad will be putting its practice time to the test this weekend with a trio of exhibition games in Thunder Bay against Churchill, Hammarskjold, and St. Patrick’s.
“It’s an additional tournament for us this season,” Noonan noted. “We ended up getting some extra funding through the Muskie Sports Association, so we picked up this three-game exhibition series.
“Those teams have some great players and any opportunity to play that sort of competition is awesome for us,” she lauded.
Both Noonan and Scott are looking to put their stamp on the team with a revamped system, as well.
“Coach Scott and I talked about game strategies, and we were kind of on the same page the whole time, so that’s obviously a good thing,” Noonan said. “It’s a little bit different of a system than the girls played last year, but it’s pretty popular and we’re breaking it down for them.
“It’s the 4-4-2 system, and the girls have the skill and they can adapt, and with the personnel we have it will be really effective.
“It allows us to transition a lot of people up into the offensive third of the field, and that’s what we are looking to do,” Noonan explained.
“You transition from having four in back, but then players kind of shift up when the ball does, so you end up with four forwards.
“It flexes and moves depending on where the ball is.”
The Muskies will boast several big-game players back in the fold but none taller than Taylor Meyers, who was the story of last year’s all-Ontarios in Collingwood with her solid play in goal.
“She’s a leader, solid at her position and confident,” Noonan said. “It’s nice to have a solid player in back as our whole system builds from there.”
Fort High won’t be hosting a home tournament this season like it has in years past—instead going on the road for both this weekend’s exhibition series in Thunder Bay and then a tournament in Winnipeg on May 7-9.
The NorWOSSA playoffs are set for May 27 here, with the all-Ontarios being hosted by Kenora on June 4-6.
