One mistake cost them a goal. And that goal ultimately cost them a shot at winning their third-straight “Borderland Ball Blast” men’s soccer tournament here last weekend.
A defensive breakdown a few minutes into overtime gave the Kenora Rangers a 2-1 win in the semi-finals Sunday, relegating tagg’s to the consolation final against the Dryden Heat.
High-scoring Mike Webb put tagg’s up 1-0 in the 20th minute but the Rangers tied the score at 1-1 on a free kick with just over 10 minutes left in regulation time–setting the stage for the overtime victory.
Kenora then carried that momentum into a 3-0 shutout over Thunder Bay United (who had nipped the Dryden Heat 3-2 in a shootout in the other semi-final) for the championship.
“The guys were kind of disappointed because it was our first loss of this tournament,” tagg’s forward Olaf Ruppenstein said afterwards.
But tagg’s exacted their revenge on the Heat, pounding the Dryden crew 5-0 to win the consolation final. Webb led the way with a hat trick while Paul Danku netted the other two goals.
Webb’s offensive prowess was in full force over the weekend as he tallied eight of the team’s 18 goals in just four games.
“He’s unbelievably fast and once he gets going, he’s impossible to stop,” praised Ruppenstein. “And he’s got a good head, he’s tall. He must have scored about three goals from headers.”
Webb appears to be a perfect fit into an explosive tagg’s offensive attack led by Olaf and Thor Ruppenstein and the talented play-making abilities of Gord Keesic.
And that offensive attack was running on all cylinders as tagg’s cruised to a 2-0 record during pool play, crushing Thunder Bay United 4-1 on Saturday morning and then manhandling Dryden United 8-1.
Webb scored a pair in the first game while Thor Ruppenstein and Eric Shute added singles.
Keesic netted the hat trick against Dryden United while Webb added a pair. Daniel Booth, Olaf Ruppenstein, and Simeon Nussbaumer also scored in that one.
The other local teams competing in the nine-team tournament were Nova and AAA. Nova failed to advance to the playoffs after tying the Heat 0-0 and Portuguese 3-3 in pool play.
AAA blanked the Dryden Drillers 5-0, lost 3-0 to the Rangers, and then were ousted from further contention with a 3-0 loss to Thunder Bay United in the wildcard game.
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