Muskies look to nab top seeds this weekend

After a successful trip to Winnipeg, both Muskie soccer squads are gearing up for the second NorWOSSA tournament this weekend in Dryden.
They both will play the Kenora Broncos, Dryden Eagles, Sioux Lookout Warriors, and Thomas Aquinas Saints (Kenora) starting Friday.
The Muskie girls—the four-time defending NorWOSSA champions—are 4-0 in league action so far. And they’ll need a repeat performance—or something close to it—to hang on to top spot going into the NorWOSSA final in Kenora on May 17-18.
But that might be a challenge considering four of their key players are banged up after two consecutive weekends of games.
On the list of questionable players are Noreen Hartlin (leg), Marina Boileau (knee), and co-captains Christin Thomson and Lindsay Roy, each with sore ankles.
All four are OAC students.
“We’re pretty beaten up,” said head coach Struchan Gilson. “We may sit [the injured players] most of the weekend.
“But I have the utmost confidence in our younger players. We can put our second team in there and they’d still be solid,” he added.
The girls are coming off a 4-1 record and top honours at the Kelvin Invitational in Winnipeg last weekend. Their lone setback was a 2-1 loss on penalty kicks to the Kenora Broncos in Thursday’s opener.
The black-and-gold then rebounded to sweep Winnipeg squads Churchill (1-0), St. John’s (3-0), and host Kelvin (1-0), before facing Churchill again in the ‘A’ final and winning 1-0.
Carling Barton scored on a penalty shot late in the final to break the scoreless tie.
The Muskies’ other scorers on the weekend included Danielle McGee, Shannon Koval, Miranda Miller, Sarah Barton, and Nicole Rogozinski.
Gilson was pleased other players came in after Thomson—their starting striker and leading scorer—had to leave after two games to take U.S. college entrance exams.
“It was a good weekend . . . I was really happy how Carling and Danielle stepped in and played for us,” he noted. “Miranda came in for Chrissy and played really well at the striker position.”
Meanwhile, the Muskie boys enter play in Dryden with the best record to date among the seven NorWOSSA teams at 3-0-1. The defending champion Kenora Broncos are 2-0-2—and pose the biggest threat to nab the top seeding this weekend.
“We want to keep our number-one seeding,” said Muskie co-coach Ben Andrusco, whose team last won NorWOSSA in 1999. “We’d like to save our guys from the first-round [at the NorWOSSA final], that’s for sure.
“I definitely think we’re the team to beat,” he added.
Also playing in Winnipeg last weekend, the boys overcame an opening loss to reach the ‘B’ final of the St. John’s-Ravenscourt Invitational against the River East Pirates—only to see it cancelled due to a snowstorm.
They had gone 2-1 leading up to the final, losing 3-1 to top-ranked Vincent Massey before beating Louis Riel (2-1) and Tech Voc (3-0).
Scoring for the black-and-gold were Nathan Miller and Bryce Witherspoon (two each), with Jamie Algie and Barry Selin adding singles.
Despite being knocked down to the ‘B’ flight, Andrusco was happy with what he saw out of his team after the first two games.
“I was very happy with all of our games,” he remarked. “We played well against Vincent Massey. That team had five provincial level club players. Their skill caught up to us and they scored two late goals.
“Against Louis Riel, the team were their most consistent. We had some rookies who stepped up and played very well. I was very happy,” he added.
The team also saw one of its top players, starting midfielder Matt Basaraba, leave halfway through the tournament to try out for the Lakehead Express under-18 boys’ team in Thunder Bay.
Starting striker Jeremy Wilson also was absent, as Andrew Mueller played most of his minutes.
“[The loss of those players] gave us a better look at our team,” said Andrusco. “I got a pretty good look at who was going to give us an honest effort when it comes to the finals.
“For some of positions, we got a good look at what other players can do.”