The University of Regina women's soccer team earned its first win of the 2016 Canada West season on Saturday night, scoring a late goal to top the Winnipeg Wesmen 1-0.

Karlee Vorrieter was the hero for Regina (1-1-1), scoring the deciding goal in the 82nd minute.

The two teams played a physical brand of soccer the entire night, but it looked as though Regina would finally break through with under 10 minutes to go. Vorrieter (pictued) was sent down the left side of the field after a long ball from the Cougar defence, and she took a partial breakaway in towards Wesmen keeper Taylor Thorkelsson. Vorrieter elected to shoot from just inside the 18-yard box, but her shot sailed way high and the score remained 0-0.

Not even a minute later, the Cougars won possession back and Nikita Senko fed a great pass through to Vorrieter, who had slipped between two Winnipeg defenders. The fifth-year midfielder went to her left foot on her redemption attempt and it paid off, beating Thorkelsson with a low shot to put the Cougars ahead.

Any hopes of a Wesmen equalizer were brushed aside by the Cougars, but it wasn't by Regina's defence as much as their ball control and attack. The goal seemed to energize the Cougars, and some fresh legs in Meghan McFee and Brigit Sinaga kept the Wesmen out of range for the remaining minutes.

Winnipeg did have one chance late in extra time, as a free kick was crossed in beautifully after Cassie Longmuir was whistled for a foul. The cross came into traffic but Ashton Lowry was aggressive in tracking the ball, going up to catch it above the heads of a pair of Wesmen attackers.

Lowry made five saves in her first career Canada West win, and the Cougar defence was tremendous in earning the clean sheet.

"It took us a couple minutes to settle in tonight, we made some mistakes in the first five minutes but after that we became more comfortable," Lowry said after the game. "We started moving the ball more efficiently - our defenders and midfielders were connecting through the back really well, and it certainly made my life easier."

Winnipeg managed 11 shots while Regina countered with nine, seven of which were on net.

"I was impressed with the collective spirit of our team, Winnipeg is well-coached and they made it difficult on us," head coach Bob Maltman said. "We made some adjustments after the first half and our girls knew they could play better. We limited our turnovers and were rewarded with a win that we thought we were deserving of."

The Cougars will look to keep rolling on Sunday night with a matchup against the Manitoba Bisons (1-2-0). The Bisons fell victim to a 1-0 defeat against the Saskatchewan Huskies on Saturday.

"We just need to approach the Bisons with a strong mentality, take a breather and not let this win get us too excited," Lowry added. "We know that we are up against two strong teams this weekend so we need to have a calm mentality and take it too them like we know we can."