Joey Payeur
Every minute off the clock was one minute closer to the NorWOSSA girls’ soccer title being pulled from the grasp of the black-and-gold.
But just when the Dryden Eagles looked to have driven a stake through their hearts, the Muskies pulled together and responded.
Myla Angus tied the game with seven minutes left, then Sydney Radigan netted the game-winner with a minute to go as Fort High rallied for a 2-1 victory in the NorWOSSA final here last Wednesday to successfully defend their crown.
“That was an awesome finish,” said Muskie coach Sarah Faragher, whose squad will battle for the OFSAA ‘AA’ title in Wallaceburg beginning tomorrow.
“To score two goals in the final minutes was just clutch.
“We came out with passion and determination in the second half, and showed a lot of leadership and maturity,” Faragher added.
“We really wanted to win it.”
Dryden took a 1-0 lead 15 minutes into the game when Elizabeth Carter jumped on a turnover by Angel McCormack, broke free from the coverage of Erin Tomalty, and ripped a shot past keeper Elizabeth Allan.
The Muskies seemed sluggish in the first half—lacking the energy they needed to bust through the suffocating defence of the Eagles, who had tied their final two regular-season meetings with Fort High.
“I think there was some high emotions in the first half and we were trying not to let the girls get on each other,” noted Faragher.
But halftime signalled a change on several fronts for the home team.
Faragher put in rookie keeper Bryanna Dustin to play the second half and also switched to a 3-4-3 attack, which brought McCormack up from the backfield to provide some extra speed, power, and play-making ability.
With the wind at their backs for the second half, the Muskies dominated ball possession and had several good scoring chances to no avail.
But in the 73rd minute, Jessica Steele arced a long pass down the left sideline that McCormack tracked down.
Her subsequent cross found Angus, who pounded the ball past Dryden keeper Alyssa Deschene from five yards out.
The momentum shift was tangible as Eagle players knelt and bowed their heads in disbelief while the Muskie contingent was reinvigorated.
“The coaches told us at halftime to just play our game and not get sucked into theirs,” beamed Angus.
“With Angel coming down the wing, I knew she was going to give me an awesome cross and I had to get in there and finish it,” she added.
“I hadn’t done that in so long and I was making sure it was going to go in.”
With overtime looming, the Muskies were awarded a free kick from 30 yards out.
Claire Hyatt—last year’s scoring hero in a 1-0 win in the final against Kenora—was selected to launch the ball.
Hyatt boomed the kick well over the four-person wall set up by Dryden into the 18-yard box, where Angus made a mighty leap to try and get a piece of the ball.
She just missed getting her head on it. But with Dryden’s defenders all watching her, the ball found its way to Radigan, who stuck a knee out to redirect the ball past Deschene.
The late goal touched off a massive celebration on the field, on the Muskie bench, and in the stands.
“I was going to kick it but it was so crowded, I just wanted to at least get a piece of the ball,” noted Radigan.
“I got my knee on it and it went in the corner.”
Faragher credited the Eagles, who beat Kenora 3-1 in the semi-final earlier in the day, for pushing the Muskies to the limit.
“My compliments to them . . . remember, that was the second game of the day for them and their fourth half of soccer,” she noted.
“I think we had that extra zip after our tying goal and we didn’t let up,” she said.
“We had so many great efforts today from the whole team, from Maggie Jean running her heart out on the wings to [Hyatt] covering the entire midfield and distributing the ball to [Tomalty] and Hailey [Beaudry] just so solid on the back line,” Faragher lauded.
“We’ve got such a balanced team and there’s a good spirit on our team this year, and that always helps you win,” she remarked.
Faragher was not expecting to accompany the squad to OFSAA due to work commitments—likely handing the coaching reins to Alyssa Faragher for the tournament, where the Muskies will play in Pool ‘D.’
One of 12 unseeded teams in the field of 20, Fort High will open play tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. (all times CDT) against the host and sixth-ranked Wallaceburg District Secondary School Tartans.
That will be followed by a 2 p.m. match-up with the unseeded St. Paul Secondary School Wolverines (Mississauga).
The Muskies will tangle with the fourth-ranked St. Mary’s College Knights (Sault Ste. Marie) at 10 a.m. on Friday, then wrap up pool play at 1 p.m. versus the unseeded Bayside Secondary School Red Devils (Quinte West).
The top two teams from each pool advance to the quarter-finals later Friday—a berth Faragher believes is reachable for her team after it notched its first OFSAA win of the 21st century at the provincials last year.
“I think we have to go in with aggressive goals for OFSAA,” she remarked.
“Our goal last year was to get one win or at least one goal,” she noted.
“But now that we’ve done that, we don’t want to go in this year with the mindset that we’re just happy to go to OFSAA.”
Angus is onside with her coach.
“We won a game there last year,” she said. “Why not try to win two this year and see what happens?
“We can do this,” Angus stressed.
The semi-finals are set for Saturday morning, with the gold- and bronze-medal games taking place that afternoon.
