Muskies to face familiar foes

Three old friends will reunite here tomorrow, but only one of them will go home with a smile on their face.
The St. Ignatius Falcons (Thunder Bay) filled the final berth for Saturday’s NWOSSAA soccer playoffs with a 3-2 victory over the Hammarskjold Vikings on Wednesday night.
Gustavo Argueta notched a pair of goals for the winners, with Matthew Eaton adding a single.
Mike Lavizza (penalty kick) and Duncan Humphries replied for Hammarskjold.
The triumph by the defending NWOSSAA champs assured the same three teams who competed in last year’s showdown will make a return appearance this time around.
The Manitouwadge Wolverines, representing the North Shore of Superior, will join St. Ignatius in making the trek to Fort Frances to take on the host Muskies, the NorWOSSA champs once again.
The winner will advance to the all-Ontarios June 5-7 in Timmins, the North East Ontario Athletic Association (NEOAA) champion.
Last year, both the Muskies and Falcons advanced to the provincials because a silver-medal finish at the all-Ontarios by St. Ignatius in 2001 assured NWOSSAA a second entrant.
But with both squads being kept off the medal podium a year ago, only one team will advance this year.
The Muskies will open action against Manitouwadge at 9 a.m. at the St. Francis Sportsfield, followed by the Wolverines tangling with St.
Ignatius at 1 p.m.
The day closes with the Muskies facing off against the Falcons at 5 p.m. in what is expected to be a winner-take-all match.