FRIDAY: vs. UBC, 7:00 p.m. (The Co-operators Centre)
SATURDAY: vs. UBC, 7:00 p.m. (The Co-operators Centre)

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The University of Regina women's hockey team will host the UBC Thunderbirds this weekend, looking to snap its current five-game losing streak.

The Cougars are 0-4 in 2015, with a pair of losses against both the fifth-ranked Alberta Pandas and the Manitoba Bisons.

Regina fell to the Bisons 2-1 in overtime last Friday before dropping Saturday's contest by a score of 6-1. Carleen Meszaros scored on Friday and Alexis Larson netted the lone goal for the Cougars on Saturday.

"The girls know how to motivate themselves, and they'll be ready for UBC," head coach Sarah Hodges said. "We have some strong leaders on the team that know how to push through adversity."

The Cougars (4-6-8-2) continue to hold the sixth and final Canada West playoff spot with eight games remaining on the regular season schedule. The Thunderbirds sit at 11-1-4-4 and are occupying the third seed in the conference heading into the weekend.

UBC is coming off two wins at Saskatchewan, where they downed the Huskies 1-0 and 5-1 to continue their unbeaten 2015.

The Cougars and Thunderbirds have met once this season already, as they split a pair of games in Vancouver in October. Regina won the first game 3-2 in overtime and the T-Birds prevailed 2-0 the next night to earn the split.

The Cougars are led by Kylie Gavelin, who is fifth in Canada West with 10 goals. Fifth-year defenceman and team captain Triston Riemer is second on the team with 10 points, all of them assists. Larson is third with eight points and Meszaros has seven on the season.

"Our defencemen have been doing the little things better and it's resulted in points for them," Hodges added. "We have to continue working on it and get our forwards going as well. Once we get the ball rolling and get some confidence we'll have more success offensively."

Toni Ross and Jennifer Schmidt have split time in net all season, with Ross posting a 4-5-1 record and Schmidt sitting at 6-3-1. Ross has a 2.05 goals-against average with a .933 save percentage while Schmidt has recorded 2.35 and .921 marks.

The Thunderbirds have four players in the top ten in scoring, as forward Tatiana Rafter is tied for fifth in Canada West with 18 points on the campaign. Sarah Casorso is close behind her with 17 and Nicole Saxvik and Rebecca Unrau each have 16.

Samantha Langford has played the majority of time between the pipes for the Thunderbirds and has a 9-3-2 record to show for it. Her 1.70 goals-against average ranks third in the conference and her .936 save percentage is good enough to tie her for second in Canada West.

Both Friday's and Saturday's games are set for 7 p.m. at The Co-operators Centre.