Joey Payeur
Sarah Faragher said her team came out winners, no matter what the scoreboard read.
The head coach of the Muskie girls’ soccer team was treasuring last weekend’s chance to lock horns with different and mostly tougher opponents at the St. John’s/Ravenscourt Eagles tournament in Winnipeg than they normally face in NorWOSSA play.
Fort High opened the NorWOSSA regular season here last Wednesday with a 2-1 victory over the Dryden Eagles and a 5-0 blowout of the Kenora Broncos.
But the news wasn’t as bright over the weekend as the black-and-gold fell 3-1 to the Vincent Massey Trojans (Winnipeg) in the ‘B’-side semi-finals to finish the tournament with a 1-2 record.
“I think it was awesome we got to play three new opponents and see a different style and calibre of play,” Faragher reasoned.
“For learning experience purposes, it was so beneficial to us,” she said.
“Everyone got playing time so our younger players got plenty of minutes to help with their development.”
One of those young players, Pasquel Shortreed, netted the lone Muskie goal against the Trojans and also earned quickly-growing respect from her head coach.
“Pasquel’s a fun little player and I’m excited about her potential,” Faragher said about the Grade 9 rookie from Emo, who redirected a cross from outside the 18-yard box into the back of the net.
“She’s got those long legs that let her get a foot on pretty much anything that’s crossed in front,” she noted.
The Muskies opened the tournament with a 2-1 overtime loss to the J.H. Bruns Broncos (Winnipeg).
Myla Angus scored for the black-and-gold, who held the Broncos at bay through most of the overtime before being stung in controversial fashion in stoppage time.
“Siobhan Mackintosh was called for contacting a player in front of our net—something that almost never gets called,” noted Faragher, who watched as the ensuing penalty kick beat keeper Moriah Carradice for the game-winner.
“It was a heartbreaker,” said Faragher. “But they were a really good team.
“They had two really strong players and we had to make some defensive adjustments to keep them in check.”
Fort High then got to see the other side of the overtime coin as Erin Tomalty’s second of the game was the difference in a 2-1 triumph over the host Eagles.
Tomalty was all kinds of heroic in the contest—evening the game with only two minutes left in regulation time before ripping the deciding goal from about the same 20-yard distance.
Abby Sanders was chosen as the Muskies’ team MVP for the tournament.
“She really led our defensive effort,” Faragher said about the Grade 10 sophomore veteran.
“We went to a 4-4-2 formation and she dropped back to play sweeper, and she pretty much never got beat the whole weekend.”
In the NorWOSSA opener here last Wednesday, the Muskies (2-0) fell behind the Eagles (1-1) 15 minutes into the game, but got a tying goal from Angus later in the first half from close range.
The game then stayed tied until the 70th minute when Maggie Jean boomed a cross from the right wing into the goal crease, where the ball took a crazy hop and skipped past Dryden keeper Alyssa Deschene.
“The first half we were a little jittery,” admitted Faragher, who turned to Mackintosh as a surprise emergency starter in net—the first time she played goal at the high school level—with both starter Bryanna Dustin (undisclosed injury) and Carradice (academic commitment) unavailable for the game.
Both usual keepers were back in action for the afternoon dumping of Kenora (0-2), which held Fort High to just Claire Hyatt’s penalty kick goal in the 38th minute in the first half.
But the Muskies had too much horsepower in the second half.
Ashley Croswell knocked home a loose ball that Broncos’ keeper Mica Wells couldn’t control for a 2-0 lead in the 50th minute.
Just eight minutes later, Wells got swept up in a wave of in-your-face pressure from Muskies Janissa Judson and Jessica Baxter.
The netminder was down and out as Baxter pried the ball loose, then stayed in-bounds just long enough to slide at a difficult angle and tap the ball into the wide-open net.
Hyatt later threaded a pass to Sydney Radigan, who cranked the ball past Wells to make it 4-0.
Then just seconds before time expired, Jean turned Kenora’s Cyd Smilski inside out twice before feeding Jess Steele coming up the middle of the Broncos’ 18-yard box.
Steele had her first shot blocked but the rebound ended up back on her foot, which she promptly zipped by Wells.
Dustin and Carradice shared the shutout.
The Muskies resumed NorWOSSA action today in Dryden against the host Eagles and Broncos.
But they did so without Faragher, who was unable to make the trip due to today’s one-day strike by local high school teachers.
Assistant coaches Jess Caul and Sara Roach shared the head-coaching responsibilities while a school administrator acted as the NorWOSSA-mandated teacher rep for the team.
The Muskies then will head to Kenora this weekend for a tournament.
