Women's soccer shines under the lights, edge Cougars 1-0

Women's soccer shines under the lights, edge Cougars 1-0

Tanner Michalenko, Saskatchewan Sports Info Student Assistant

SASKATOON – Leesa Eggum scored a late first half goal to give the University of Saskatchewan Huskies the edge vs Regina Cougars Saturday night under the lights of Griffiths Stadium in PotashCorp Park.

The goal gave the Huskies a much-needed victory, finding their way back to the win column after tough stretch of 0-1-3 since their last win on Sept 23rd vs Lethbridge.

The match didn't start out as smoothly as head coach Jerson Barandica-Hamilton would have preferred, as the Huskies needed time to develop chemistry with a refreshed lineup that featured the return of fourth-year defender Julie Labach.

41 minutes into the first half, the dogs finally broke the draw after a scramble in front of Cougar keeper Ashton Lowry.

Eggum received a pass from midfielder Jessica Bradford just outside of the Cougar box. The fifth-year made no mistake after settling down the ball and firing it past Lowry. The goal was Eggum's sixth of the year, and ninth point in 10 games.

The Huskies would come close to adding another shortly after the halftime break.

Maya Gabruch took a break-away feed that saw her in a one-on-one opportunity with the Cougar keeper. Gabruch let go a left footed strike that beat Lowry but ricocheted off the near post and out of play.

The Cougars had difficulty maintaining control on the Huskie side of the field as the Huskie defense stiffened as time went on.

The strong defensive play was evident on the score sheet, as the Cougars failed to register a single shot on target on just four attempts to challenge Huskie keeper Kyleigh Vause.

The Huskies would go on to survive eight minutes of added time to seal the win and keep themselves comfortably in second place in the Canada West standings, three points in front of Calgary who have a game in hand on the dogs.

Lowry made three saves for the Cougars, while Vause didn't have to make a stop for the clean sheet.

Next weekend, both clubs travel to BC.  The Huskies will take on the UFV Cascades on Friday, followed by Trinity Western. While the Cougars will play Trinity Western on Friday and UFV on Saturday.