The Eagles boys’ soccer team rallied back from two 2-0 deficits to take the NorWOSSA gold medal on Wednesday, May 25 in front of the home crowd.
The boys fell behind the Beaver Brae Broncos in the semi-finals but rallied back to score four goals in ten minutes, including a hat trick from Daniel Arndt, to take the game 4-3.
They squared off against the Fort Frances Muskies in the final, again falling to a 2-0 deficit before a huge mistake by the Muskies’ goaltender allowed rookie player Cody Kaus to open the scoring for the Eagles.
Moments later, Matt Bartlett tied the game and the two teams stayed in a deadlock through overtime into penalty shots.
Daimon Wesley scored the winning goal in PKs while first time goaltender Zach Lake made an outstanding save to push the Eagles to a gold medal.
Coach Conor Doherty says the boys didn’t get down on themselves and that first goal against the Muskies really boosted their confidence.
“Everybody all of a sudden started believing that we could really do it and no more than 10 minutes later, Bartlett put a corner kick in off his head. It was just the belief that we could come back and still win.
It was a very calm mood at the halftime huddle, nobody was hanging their heads, everybody was focused on what I was saying and I could see it on their faces that they weren’t worried.”
It took six shooters to beat the Muskies in penalty shots and earn their first NorWOSSA title since 2005.
It’s a first for every member of the team and they savoured the moment in front of family and friends.
“It feels great to finally win NorWOSSA again and it’s great for our older guys in their fourth and fifth years who haven’t won NorWOSSA in soccer before.
Like I said in the huddle at the end of the game, at the beginning of the year, I pointed up to board and showed them 2005 was the last time they’d won NorWOSSA so that was our goal from the beginning of the season to put a new number up on the board at the gym.”
Although the boys lost all their previous games to the Muskies, some stats to think about:
•In the match-up on May 5, the Eagles out-passed the Muskies 103-45
•In the match-up on May 9, the Eagles out-passed the Muskies 133-27
•On May 12, the Eagles out-passed the Muskies 114-40
•On May 19, they out-passed them 98-89.
The boys will start their OFSAA journey June 3 in Windsor, ON.
Check www.drydenobserver.ca for updates as the team makes their way through the tournament.