Lucas Punkari
The Muskie boys’ soccer team did not get the start they were hoping for at the all-Ontario ‘AA’ championships in North Bay.
Fort High fell 3-0 this morning to the top-ranked Cardinal Carter Cougars (Leamington) in their opening game in Pool ‘A.’
After a scoreless first half, the Cougars struck quickly with a pair of goals in a three-minute span to take the lead.
They then rounded out the scoring with another marker with 10 minutes to play.
“In the first half, we were playing right with them and there were equal opportunities for both sides,” noted Muskie head coach Shane Beckett.
“We had a little bit of a breakdown at the start of the second half on the first goal they scored, and you can’t have any breakdowns against a team like them if you want to win,” he stressed.
“Their second goal came after we had a mistimed kick that they were able to take control of and while we pushed hard and had a lot of chances to score, we lacked some polish around the goal.
“While we’re disappointed that we didn’t win,” said Beckett.
“On the positive side, we know that we can play with the teams here as they [Cardinal Carter] were the top-seeded team coming in,” he added.
After facing the St. Mary’s Huskies (Toronto) in the second match this afternoon (the outcome wasn’t known as of press time), the Muskies will be back on the pitch tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. (EDT) versus the Prince Edward Panthers (Picton).
The squad then will the wrap up round-robin play with a 2 p.m. clash against the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders (Oakville).
The top two teams from each of the four pools advance to the quarter-finals tomorrow evening, with the semi-finals slated for 9 a.m. on Saturday.
The gold-medal game follows at 3 p.m. at the Steve Omischl Sports Complex.
