The University of Regina's women's soccer team settled for a season-opening three-point weekend after falling by a 3-0 score to Manitoba on Saturday night in Winnipeg.

Celeste Gallego and Jessica Tsai scored nine minutes apart in the first half to give Manitoba a 2-0 lead at the break, and Stefanie Young's goal early in the second all but thwarted any chance of a second consecutive comeback for the Cougars.

"We started off brightly, but were a little on the back foot in the first half and fell behind from a corner that we would on another day deal with differently," Cougars head coach Bob Maltman said. "We showed fantastic character and generated some good opportunities even though we were down a player for the majority of the second half. We're looking forward to seeing the continued growth of this bright group of athletes."

Cougar veteran Lauren Petras was injured during the play leading up to Young's goal in the 52nd minute and didn't return, and in the aftermath Regina keeper Kylie Bolton was issued a red card. Savannah Williams came on and played the final 35 minutes in net for the Cougars.

The Cougars will now prepare for their home openers next weekend against a pair of Pacific Division opponents as they'll host Calgary (1-0-1) on Saturday and UNBC (1-0-0) on Sunday. Both of those matches kick off at 3:00 PM at the U of R Field.