Nobody this side of the Rockies enjoyed more Canada West wins in men’s soccer this fall than the Mount Royal University Cougars.
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 .
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.
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 and save percentage during the regular season.
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.Article content
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.
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 Dinos 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.
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. 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.Article content
“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.” 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.