Kirsten Finley of the Regina Cougars leaps over Cascades keeper Kayla Klim during Saturday’s game in Regina. (Photos courtesy Regina Cougars Athletics)
The University of the Fraser Valley women’s soccer team earned a draw in its first road game of the young Canada West season, battling the Regina Cougars to a 1-1 stalemate on Saturday afternoon in the Saskatchewan capital.
Cascades forward Gurneet Dhaliwal opened the scoring six minutes in, but the Cougars’ Brianna Wright leveled matters in the 30th minute, in what was the first conference game for Regina (0-0-1).
UFV (0-1-1) continues its road swing on Sunday in Saskatoon against the Saskatchewan Huskies (12 p.m. CST).
“Regina’s a hard-working team that made it frustrating for us,” Cascades head coach Rob Giesbrecht said. “It’s disappointing because the game was there for the taking for us today, and we just let our opponent hang around when we should have been able to take control.
“We scored six minutes in, and after that, we were playing really well but we couldn’t get that second goal. We allowed Regina to get a foothold in the game, and they hit a great shot from 30 yards out where there was nothing much we could do. In the second half, it felt like we hit the panic button early, didn’t get into our rhythm and didn’t have many quality chances.
“We’ve got to pick ourselves up and get ready for tomorrow.”
Cascades midfielder Brittney Zacharuk and Regina’s Karlee Vorrieter battle for the ball.
The Cascades got on the board after Amanda Carruthers sent a nice ball into the box from the left wing that Monika Levarsky fired on net. The shot was directly at Cougars keeper Ashton Lowry, who made the save, but the rebound landed right on the foot of Dhaliwal who put a quick shot past Lowry for her first goal of the season.
Regina would reply thanks to a beauty off the foot of Wright. Nikita Senko slipped a pass over to Wright who was moving down the central area of the field. Wright took a couple dribbles and hammered a perfectly placed strike from near the top of the box. Kayla Klim was well-positioned in net for the Cascades but her diving effort was no match for the third-year striker’s shot.
The second half passed with few good opportunities, although UFV had a chance in extra time to take back the lead. Carruthers took a feed on the left side of the box and had a decent angle at the net, but her shot hit Lowry right on and the keeper was able to hang on.
The Cougars outshot the Cascades 14-13 for the match, with seven Cougars shots and six Cascade efforts on target. Fifth-year centre back Tristan Corneil was UFV’s player of the game for the second straight outing.
– with files from Andrew Hamilton, Regina Cougars communications
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