Muskies go undefeated at Dryden tourney

The cold, rainy weather didn’t hinder their play, but a miscommunication in the tournament schedule caused the Muskie soccer teams to play only three games over the weekend in Dryden instead of the four they were promised.
It didn’t matter, though, as both squads went undefeated.
The Muskie boys’ team opened play Friday morning with a 1-0 win over the Kenora Broncos. Niels Nijssen netted their lone goal .
Then the black-and-gold battled to a 1-1 draw against the host Eagles that afternoon in what should be the main match-up come the NorWOSSA championship this Wednesday in Kenora.
“On paper, the 1-1 draw with Dryden will make some people go ‘Oh no,’ but we played hard against them for 65 minutes [games consisted of 35-minute halves] with our number-one guys and we took it to them and we were beating them 1-0,” noted Muskie head coach Shane Beckett.
“We made some subs to make sure there weren’t any injuries and the guys hung their heads a bit because they thought they had it, but they let it slip away,” he added.
Nijssen once again scored the Muskies’ goal, with Dryden netting the equalizer with less than two minutes to play.
The Muskies then downed the Rainy River Owls 3-1 on Saturday morning thanks to goals by Steven Boileau (his first-ever as a Muskie), Craig McTavish, and Nijssen.
Jordan York allowed just the one goal in net.
“We finally pumped in some goals, and getting those three early in that first half was really nice,” said Beckett.
The Muskie girls’ team were not to be out done, winning all three of their games in Dryden by shutouts to maintain their streak of not allowing a goal so far this season.
It started with a 3-0 win over the host Eagles, with Kate Basaraba, Rebecca Cornell, and Hannah Firth getting the goals, followed by a 5-0 victory over the Kenora Broncos.
Cornell (two), Erin Kaemingh, Jolene Veldhuisen, and Basaraba were the goal scorers in that one.
The Muskies then wrapped up the tournament Saturday morning with a 5-0 win over the Rainy River Owls. Basaraba put the black-and-gold in front with a pair of first-half goals.
The other goal scorers were not known by press time today.