Tough loss spells end to girls’ season

Another solid season by the Muskie girls’ soccer team ended with yet another tough loss.
The black-and-gold lost 4-0 to the St. Ignatius Falcons to settle for a 1-1 record and the silver medal at the three-team NWOSSAA showdown Saturday in Manitouwadge.
They had opened play earlier in the day with a 4-1 win over the host squad.
The Muskies—NWOSSAA bridesmaids for the fourth-straight year—controlled the play early against the Falcons but allowed the eventual game-winner before halftime.
St. Ignatius then added three goals in the second half, including two in the dying minutes, to ice the win and a trip to the all-Ontarios in Brockville starting tomorrow.
First-year assistant coach Mandy Wilson, who guided the team in place of head coach Struchan Gilson, who didn’t make the trip to Manitouwadge due to a badly-cut finger, said the Falcons simply were the better team.
“Just the individual skill level was really, really good,” said Wilson, who last played on a Muskie team that won NWOSSAA gold in 1995.
“They didn’t have a better strategy. Their individual skill was noticeably higher,” she added.
“[The players] weren’t unhappy. They knew they played as well as they can,” said Gilson, who had talked to team co-captain Lindsay Roy immediately after Saturday’s loss to St. Ignatius.
In the first game against Mani-touwadge, champions of the North Shore of Superior league, the Muskies exploded for three goals in overtime after regulation time had ended in a 1-1 tie.
Christin Thomson scored in the first half and added another in the extra 10-minute session. Carling Barton netted the other pair.
Jessica Wilson earned the win between the pipes.
Manitouwadge fared no better against the Falcons, losing 8-0 to finish in third place at 0-2.
The Muskies’ road to NWOSSAA was very successful. Entering Saturday’s action, the team had a perfect 10-0 record in NorWOSSA play in winning their fifth-straight title.
They also had captured the Kelvin Invitational title in Winnipeg with a 4-1 record.
“Playing higher quality teams [in our league] would’ve helped,” said Gilson. “[But] we’re a better team this year than we were last year.”
One thing Gilson said he won’t do is implement full indoor club seasons for his players during the winter months—something Thunder Bay and other bigger centres in the province do.
“I don’t see myself doing that. I like my players to be well-rounded kids and not have it be all about soccer,” he remarked.
Meanwhile, starters Thomson (the team’s leading scorer), Roy, Marina Boileau, Noreen Hartlin, and Trista Barker are all OAC students set to leave the team.
But Wilson is confident the team will be able to replace them in the coming seasons.
“[We] have a really strong Grade 10 base. There’s quite a few and they’re quite strong. We’ll have a strong team,” she remarked.
“It’ll be hard to lose that leadership, though.”