A promising year lies ahead for the Fort Frances Muskie soccer teams after a strong showing on the pitch during the first high school soccer tournament of the year here.
Both teams were undefeated throughout the exhibition tourney last Friday and Saturday–a impressive warm up for the regular season.
“It was not too bad, I think the boys are probably going to have their hands full a little more than the girls will,” noted Fort High athletic director Jason Kabel. “The girls look like the strongest team in NorWOSSA. The guys may be a toss-up between Fort Frances and Beaver Brae in Kenora.”
The strength of this year’s girls’ team was echoed by head coach Struchan Gilson, who played his starters as well as all of his rookies during the tournament.
“I’m extremely pleased,” said Gilson. “This is probably the strongest team I’ve ever had. Maybe not the strongest in each position but overall the strongest.”
During the tournament, the girls defeated Rainy River 5-0, Dryden by 7-1, Kenora by 2-0 and, with a contingent of rookies on the field, outscored the Sioux Lookout team 8-0.
“It was really nice to see some of my rookies score some goals,” said Gilson who intends to focus on team passing in upcoming practices.
“What we’re trying to do right now is get better communication between players and [work on] finding space,” he said.
“I really was happy with the defense–we did not get a direct shot on goal in all for games. The only shot our goalie had to save was a free kick,” added Gilson.
Leading the charge for the girls were Christin Thompson and Sarah Noonan with six goals each.
Although they didn’t appear as dominant as the girls on the field, the Muskie boys shut out their opponents beating Rainy River 7-0, Dryden 1-0 (on a penalty kick), Beaver Brae 2-0 and Sioux Lookout 2-0.
“I thought we played really well,” said head coach Rick Chambers.
“Our trapping skills need to improve–a lot of times it was going from our feet to their feet rather than our feet to our fee,” he noted. “But we actually played really well. We were short three of our starters for three games.
Leading the charge was Adam McTavish who netted five goals during the first game.
Both teams will go on to play another exhibition tournament in Winnipeg before regular season play begins.
The boys will play in the St. John’s Ravens Court tournament while the girls will play in the Kelvin High School tournament.
“I expect tough competition but I expect us to do very well in Winnipeg,” said Gilson. “You want to play better teams to get as much experience as you can.”
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
