CAMPUS PREVIEW: MRU, Calgary chase Canada West soccer supremacy
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
Article content
Nobody this side of the Rockies enjoyed more Canada West wins in men’s soccer this fall than the Mount Royal University Cougars.
And nobody in the entire conference enjoyed less losses than those same Cougars on the semester.
But a third straight season finishing as the CW’s Prairie Division champions — that with a spectacular unbeaten record of 8-6-0 — isn’t the end-game for the Cougs.
What the MRU men want is a Canada West championship, with the assault on such an accomplishment beginning with quarterfinal play against the incoming Fraser Valley Cascades on Saturday afternoon at MRU Stadium Field (3 p.m.).
They follow the Cougars women — also the top seed after a 10-3-1 regular season — who begin playoffs earlier Saturday against the visiting Thompson Rivers WolfPack at Mount Royal (1 p.m.).
Also in weekend playoff action, the University of Calgary Dinos women head to Edmonton to play a quarterfinal against the host Alberta Pandas at Foote Field (noon), while the men kicked into the playoffs with a quarters match Friday night against the host WolfPack.
Watch for playoff action streamed live on Canada West TV (canadawest.tv).
COUGARS MEN
The MRU men became just the sixth team in the last 20 years to end the Canada West regular season without a loss.
But they can’t lose now in an effort to get to the final four in conference soccer action and beyond to the U SPORTS finale.
First, they play 8-5-2 Fraser Valley on Saturday, and it will be important for the Cougars to be on their ‘A’ game after struggling to find the back of the net in their final two regular-season games that saw both competitions end in a 0-0 draw.
However, with the likes of Mohamed El Gandour, David Schaefer, Caden Rogozinksi and Sterling Kerr in starter and leadership roles on the pitch, the Cougars are jumping at the chance to secure a spot in the Canada West men’s soccer final four. The quartet of aforementioned players were also named to Canada West’s first all-star team, accompanied by teammates Niklas Liebich, Alex Kemsley and Benedikt Mehl being named to the second all-star team and fellow Cougs Mowbray Beghin and Jonathan Walter being listed to the all-rookie team.
As captain of the Cougs, El Gandour will be looked to for offensive drive after finishing second in Canada West with a point per game, totalling 12 points — including eight goals — in 12 matches. If El Gandour and his squad can continue in the same fashion of wins against the Cascades on Saturday, they will be one step closer to pursuing their goal of a conference championship since joining Canada West and U SPORTS in 2012.
COUGARS WOMEN
It was an unusual result to the end of the Canada West regular season with the University of MacEwan Griffins women’s soccer team forfeiting the majority of their games due to playing an ineligible player. However, the Cougars benefited greatly from the circumstances, jumping from fourth in the Canada West Prairie Division to first place over the last weekend of play.
Now, as the first overall seed in the Prairie Division, the Cougars host the fourth seed of the Pacific Division, the WolfPack, in the quarterfinal.
Heading into the game, MRU is up against steep competition. The WolfPack finished with a 6-6-2 record but significantly handed the Cougars one of their three losses with a Sept. 17 2-0 decision. While Mount Royal’s squad has improved significantly since meeting the Wolfpack in B.C. earlier in the season, the Cougars will need to kick it up into high gear for their quarterfinal rematch.
Recently announced was the Canada West all-star teams on which MRU stars Sydney Danielewicz, Alexi Watson and Lizzy Knight were named to the second team and Zyna Centeno was named to the all-rookie squad. Knight in particular will be one to watch in the quarter-final game as she was the only goalkeeper to rank top four in Canada West for both saves (second overall with 75 saves) and save percentage (fourth overall with .824 SV%) during the regular season.
The Cougars will look to rely on Knight and these key players during the quarterfinal game to secure their fate in hosting the Canada West women’s final four, which would be held at MRU Nov. 5-6 if the women’s team is successful Saturday.
DINOS MEN
Calgary’s men finished the regular season with a 6-5-3 conference record, good for third in the CW Prairie Division.
The Dinos are riding a three-game win streak, outscoring their last three opponents 9-2, including posting a pair of home shutouts this past weekend.
Meanwhile, Thompson Rivers finished the regular season with a 7-3-5 mark to just edge out the UNBC Timberwolves for the second seed in the Pacific Division, earning the WolfPack a home game.
The Dinos don’t have much history with their opponent this weekend, having squared off against the WolfPack just three times before Friday’s post-season matchup. Calgary does own wins in all three previous contests, including a 1-0 win in Kamloops on Sept. 23, with Gianmarco Plenzik scoring the game’s only goal.
While the Dinos have plenty of post-season success in the Canada West playoffs, they will be looking for just their second conference title in program history and the first since 1980. Calgary played in the gold-medal game as recently as 2019 and advanced to the U SPORTS national championships after claiming CW silver.
After a slower start to this season that saw the Dinos go 1-2-2 out of the gates, Calgary has started clicking down the stretch. The team has earned points in six of their final nine games this season, including winning their final three. The offence has certainly been a strong point of late, as well, for the Dinos. This year’s squad is tied for fourth in all of Canada West with 23 goals scored on the season — 11 of which have come in the last two weeks.
With their 5-0 win over MacEwan on Saturday, the Dinos notched the 200th regular-season victory in program history. Following another win one day later, Calgary’s all-time regular-season ledger stands at 201-217-86.
DINOS WOMEN
The Dinos turned in an impressive nine-win regular season to finish third in the Canada West Pacific Division with 29 points — just one point shy of second place. Alberta finished the regular season with a 9-4-1 ledger to finish second in the Prairie Division, earning this home playoff match.
While there have been plenty of Battle of Alberta matchups between these two programs over the years, there have only been three such instances in the playoffs dating back to the 1998 season. That year, Calgary advanced past Alberta to the CW championships on penalty kicks, while the Pandas flipped that script in 2000. The most recent post-season meeting between the provincial rivals came in 2014 — a 2-1 win for Alberta in the quarterfinals in Edmonton.
The Dinos will begin the pursuit of their third Canada West title this weekend, with the first two coming back in 2005 and 2019. The Scarlet & Gold have had several deep post-season runs of late. In addition to the 2019 season, they have advanced to nationals three times in the last seven seasons, also doing so in 2015 and 2018.
Calgary third-year forward Rachel Barlow has been one of the clear leaders for her team this season, not only on the field but also in the stat columns. The local product finished the regular season with a U SPORTS-best 11 assists on the campaign. Her 17 total points also rank her fourth in all of Canada, and her three game-winning goals also crack the top 10 nationally, tying her for eighth.
Despite seeing one of the most decorated classes in program history graduate last spring, the Dinos have had loads of success on the field once again and have spent the majority of this season in the U SPORTS Top 10. Calgary finished the regular season ranked eighth in the national rankings, and notably handed the No. 1 UBC Thunderbirds their lone loss of the year.
FOOTBALL
The Dinos will face a stiff test on the road when they head east to Saskatoon for a date with the No. 4 Saskatchewan Huskies in the final week of the Canada West regular season.
Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. MT from Griffiths Stadium, where the Dinos will look to end their season on a high note and hand the Huskies just their second loss of the season.
The game can be streamed on CanadaWest.TV.
The Dinos (1-6) and the Huskies met back on the opening day of the 2022 season, where Saskatchewan handed Calgary a 44-5 loss. Last week, the Huskies were handed their first loss of the season when they were defeated, 35-29, by the UBC Thunderbirds. Saskatchewan still holds a league-best point differential, outscoring their opponents by a 99-point margin through seven games. This game will have no impact on the Canada West playoff picture, as the Huskies have locked up first place and will play either the Alberta Golden Bears or the Manitoba Bisons depending on the outcome of other Week 8 action. The Dinos will use this game as a building block for their young roster, as they were eliminated from playoff contention with their 30-7 loss to the Regina Rams last week.
The Dinos look to recapture the offence they had in their win against Alberta as they were unable to find much traction against a stout Rams defence, putting up just 214 yards of total offence last week. Quarterback Daniel Sananes did find some success with his legs against the Rams, rushing for 88 yards on 11 attempts. Jacob Biggs continues to be a leader for the Dinos defensively, as his five pass breakups lead the way for the Dinos and have him tied atop the Canada West. Three of his five came last week against the Rams. He now has 20 PBUs in his career, tying him for fourth most in Canada West history.
Two fifth-year Dinos will suit up for the Scarlet & Gold for the final time on Saturday. Defensive back Matthew Luchyshyn and fullback Christian Phillips will try to end their U SPORTS career with a win in Saskatoon.
After last week’s game, Dinos head coach Wayne Harris explained that even though his team is out of playoff contention, this game still means something. “We are playing for next year now and where you stand,” Harris said. ”You have to prove yourself, and you can’t go into it with any intent other than to win a football game.”
The No. 4 Huskies (6-1) lost 35-29 last week to UBC.
The Huskies have been dominant on both sides of the ball this season, leading the conference in both points per game (31.0) and points allowed per game (16.9). Saskatchewan’s offence is powered by their dangerous passing attack, as quarterback Mason Nyhus currently leads all of U SPORTS with 350.4 yards per game. Nyhus has a plethora of weapons at his disposal, including receivers Daniel Perry and Caleb Morin, who are both averaging over 70 yards receiving per game.
Linebacker Lane Novak has been a standout on the defensive side of the ball, racking up 42.5 tackles this season, plus three pass breakups and a sack.
The Huskies have clinched home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Next week, they will see either the Bisons or Bears in the opening round of the playoffs. The Bisons can clinch a berth with a win, while the Bears will need a win paired with a Manitoba loss.
CROSS COUNTRY
The Dinos are off to the 2022 Canada West cross country championships this Saturday.
This year’s championships will be hosted by Trinity Western at Clearbrook Park in nearby Abbotsford, B.C.
The men’s race is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. MT, with the women’s race getting underway one hour later.
Live results will be available for this race via GoDinos.com.
Calgary has a strong history at the Canada West finals in cross country. The Dinos have claimed an impressive 14 total conference titles — eight claimed by the women’s squad and six by the men. In fact, the Calgary men recently went on a three-year run at the CW Championships, claiming gold in 2017, 2018 and 2019 before settling for silver at last year’s meet.
The Clearbrook Park course is a two-kilometre loop with twists and turns of diverse terrain, from grass to gravel, including some elevation climb. It is a well-known course and has hosted national and provincial championships in the past.
After starting the 2022 season with both teams placing third at Saskatchewan’s Sled Dog Open, both Calgary squads improved at the annual Stewart Cup two weeks later with a pair of second-place finishes. With the strong showing in hosting this year’s Stewart Cup, the Dinos retained the cup that is competed for between the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta.
The Dinos got to celebrate one of the greatest to ever lace up the spikes earlier this month at the 2022 University of Calgary Athletics Hall of Fame celebration, with the induction of Lisa Harvey. Harvey led the Dinos to back-to-back national championships in 1992 and ‘93, winning individual titles both seasons, as well. She went on to have an outstanding professional career, including competing in the 10,000m at the Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
After this Saturday’s conference championships, the Dinos will have two weeks to prepare for the 2022 U SPORTS Championships, hosted this year jointly by Dalhousie and St. Mary’s in Halifax.
SWIMMING
The Dinos men’s and women’s swim teams will open their 2022-23 season at home on Friday for a tri-meet, where they will host UBC and the Lethbridge Pronghorns for an afternoon of racing.
Competition got underway at 3 p.m. on Friday, with the second afternoon of racing Saturday at 3 p.m. at the UCalgary Aquatic Centre.
“We are very excited to race over the next two weekends and see how we have done in our training and preparation,” said U of C head coach Mike Blondal. “UBC and Lethbridge will come ready to challenge so we should have an exciting weekend of racing.”
The Dinos women’s swim team enters the 2022-23 season as the reigning Canada West champions and will look to defend their team title this November at the CW championships in Victoria, B.C. The victory, which broke an 11 year-long reign by the T-Birds, marked the ninth team title captured by the University of Calgary women.
Fresh off a summer of international racing, which included grabbing a pair of medals at the FINA World Aquatics Championships in Budapest and a second pair at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Olympian Rebecca Smith will be making a splash at home with her UCalgary teammates after choosing to forego the FINA Swimming World Cup in Toronto the same weekend.
A total of 11 new swimmers will take their marks for the Dinos over the weekend. On the women’s side, middle-distance freestyler Emily De Jaeger and sprinter Eliza Housman will be looking to show the strength they add to the CW champion women’s roster. Breaststroker Ian Cameron will suit up for the men’s squad, alongside fellow rookie and IM specialist Addison Butler.
At the 2022 national championships, Matthew Gauthier helped the TRU Wolfpack to their most successful U SPORTS swimming championships ever. Now, after making the move back to his home province, Gautier will be racing for the Dinos. The breaststroke specialist was the second swimmer in TRU program history to qualify for the national championship meet and won the ‘B’ Final of the 100 breaststroke in a new personal-best time of 1:00.54, which would have placed him seventh in the ‘A’ Final.
VOLLEYBALL
Dinos women’s volleyball is on against the Regina Cougars this weekend in the team’s home opener.
The action took to the court Friday at the Jack Simpson Gym at 6 p.m. Saturday’s contest is scheduled to start at 5 p.m.
This will be the first time Calgary and Regina have squared off in the regular season in nearly three full years, with the last meeting coming back in late November of 2019. The Dinos currently hold a 13-game win streak over the Cougars in conference play, with the last regular season loss coming in a 3-2 contest back on Nov. 8, 2013.
“One of my favourite things about our program is that no one person is our ‘superstar’,” said Dinos head coach Christine Biggs. “We’ve got really meaningful contributions coming from every player and each staff on this team. We’ve really begun to understand the impact each person has on our overall success, and this team-driven mindset is creating an environment where we are developing faster than we’ve seen before. We’ve got a balanced offence coming from a team of exceptional setters, and night to night, you’ll see a variation in our points leaders.”
The Dinos picked up a significant win last weekend against their cross-town rival. After dropping the season-opener in four sets to host Mount Royal, Calgary bounced back for a three-set sweep to split. Not only is that an impressive turnaround in less than 24 hours, but it is also a win over defending national silver medallists and earns the team a split in this year’s Crowchild Classic series.
Dinos third-year setter Stella Rains figures to once again be a key piece of the puzzle for this year’s squad. Last season, Rains racked up 513 assists, and already had 42 this season through the opening weekend split with Mount Royal. The Cougars have two prospective setters this season. Annika Hufnagel is in her third season with the Cougars, entering with 370 total assists, while second-year Cassadi Klapak amassed 485 assists last season.
Three members of this year’s Dinos squad had a busy summer away from campus. Current players Sheridan Coninx and Evvia Belireau were both invited by Volleyball Canada’s under-21 team to a training camp in Edmonton. Meanwhile, Biggs coached Team Canada’s U-19 squad in the 2022 NORCECA (North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation) U-19 Girls Pan-American Cup, which was hosted this year in Tulsa, Okla.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.