The University of Regina hosted the Great Plains Challenge non-conference tournament last week at the U of R Field, with seven Canada West teams playing a total of 11 matches over four days to kick off the 2019 campaign.
Calgary claimed the team title with wins in all three of its matches. The Dinos defeated host Regina 2-1 on Wednesday, then won twice on Thursday with a 2-0 win over Saskatchewan and a 3-0 victory over Manitoba.
The highlight for the host Cougars came on Thursday, when they got the offence moving in a 3-1 victory over Thompson Rivers.
Kyra Vibert,
Grace Miller, and
Sophia Stevens all scored while goalkeeper
Savannah Williams along with first-year players Stevens,
Natalia McCullough, and
Jessica Merk all played the full 90 minutes in the victory.
The Cougars closed out the tournament 2-0 and 3-1 losses to Winnipeg and MacEwan on Friday and Saturday.
Taylor Bubnick connected for the U of R's goal on Saturday, while Miller notched the U of R's first strike of the tournament on Wednesday in the close setback to Calgary.
The Cougars will now prepare for their Canada West season openers, which will come two weekends from now in Manitoba. They'll square off against Winnipeg on Friday, Sept. 6 before playing Manitoba the following night.
After that, the U of R will play its home openers on Sept. 14 (Calgary) and Sept. 15 (UNBC). Both of those matches will kick off at 3:00 PM on the U of R Field.
Great Plains Challenge Final Standings
| Team |
Record |
GF |
GA |
PTS |
| Calgary |
3-0-0 |
7 |
1 |
9 |
| MacEwan |
2-0-1 |
11 |
3 |
7 |
| Saskatchewan |
1-1-1 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
| Thompson Rivers |
1-2-0 |
5 |
6 |
3 |
| Winnipeg |
1-2-0 |
3 |
10 |
3 |
| Regina |
1-3-0 |
5 |
8 |
3 |
| Manitoba |
0-1-2 |
3 |
6 |
2 |
