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| Kelly Cerowniak in action for the Huskies. |
Both squads did their part Friday at
PotashCorp Park to ensure it is “make” time. The men’s soccer team downed the
University of Alberta Golden Bears 4-1, and the women’s squad blanked the
University of Lethbridge Pronghorns 3-0.
While it is only early October, the
regular season is nearing a close, and both teams are trying to roll off a
final sprint. The Huskies men’s team wants to inch closer to first place in the
Prairies Division of Canada West. The Huskies women’s team wants lock up a
playoff berth.
In the men’s game, Garrett Peters and Luigi Bekwayo staked the Huskies out to a 2-0
lead. Cj Gilroy scored for the Golden Bears early in the second half to cut the
host’s lead to 2-1. The Huskies pulled away with singles from Bobbi Nicholat and Jordian Farahani.
Michal
Bandula picked up the win in goal for the Huskies, while Connor James suffered
the loss for the Golden Bears.
With the win, the Huskies improve to
6-0-1 to sit four points up on the 4-2-3 Golden Bears for first in the
division. If the Huskies just post a tie in Sunday’s encounter with the Golden
Bears (2:15 p.m. PotashCorp Park), they will be sitting pretty in the race for
first.
After Sunday’s match, the Huskies
will have four games remaining on their schedule. They play the University of
Winnipeg Wesmen (2-5-1) twice and the Mount Royal University Cougars (1-4-1)
twice. As it stands right now, the Huskies would only need to win two of those
final four encounters to capture top spot in the division.
On the women’s side, the Huskies
need wins to keep their playoff hopes alive in the tightly packed Prairies
Division. They entered Friday’s game holding a slim one-point edge for fourth
place and the division’s final playoff berth.
In the shutout win of the
Pronghorns, Kelly Cerkowniak scored twice in the first
half to give the Huskies a 2-0 edge, and Prince Albert product Erica Parenteau
rounded out the scoring with a single in the second half.
Cara
Santaga picked up the win in goal for the Huskies, while Myriah Marino took the
loss in the Pronghorns net.
The victory
helped end a four-game winless skid, as the Huskies improved to 4-2-3. The
Pronghorns fell to 1-6-2.
The
two teams meet again on Sunday at 12 p.m. at PotashCorp Park. If the Huskies
win, it will put them in a good position to play the waiting game.
They
close out the regular season by hosting the University of Regina Cougars
(4-2-2) on Oct. 18 and 19. By that time, the picture of what the Huskies still
need to do to get in the playoffs should become clearer. If the Huskies don’t
earn a win over Lethbridge on Sunday, they could be forced into a position
where they need to win both of their final two games to make the post-season.
The
best part for both soccer squads is they control their own respective destinies.
At this point in the campaign, that is all the players on either team wants.
If
they can keep winning, there could be the odd home playoff game at PotashCorp
Park.
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blog, feel free to email comments to stankssports@gmail.com.
