The University of Regina women's soccer team battled the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades to a 1-1 draw at the U of R Field on Saturday afternoon.

Brianna Wright (pictured) scored the lone goal for the Cougars, who open their season with a draw for the first time since 2011. Gurneet Dhaliwal scored for Fraser Valley (0-1-1).

Fraser Valley would open the scoring in the sixth minute off a tough break for the Cougars. Amanda Carruthers sent a nice ball into the box from the left wing that Monika Levarsky sent towards the net. The shot was directly at 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, as she evened the score in the 30th minute. 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 low shot.

"I felt that as a team we're already playing more together and connecting better than we did last season," Wright said after the game. "The weight of our through balls has improved and we're playing as a complete unit, and it showed with today's result."

Regina had an early chance in the second minute as Wright took a corner for the Cougars. Her cross in was played towards the corner of the net by defender Racquel Marshall. The shot had Klim beat but UFV's Danica Kump was in the right spot, deflecting the ball away from the open net. The rebound bounced back out to Wright who had a go from a tough angle but her shot hit the cross bar.

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 third-year 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.

"Hopefully moving forward we're able to capitalize on our chances a bit better," Wright added. "We left a couple good opportunities on the pitch today but that's something that we can do better in the future."

Regina will play host to Trinity Western University (2-0-0) on Sunday, with kickoff slated for noon at the U of R Field. UFV will head north to Saskatchewan for Sunday's action after the Huskies were dropped 4-0 by TWU on Saturday.