THIS WEEK IN COUGAR ATHLETICS

Women’s Hockey – Regina has put together a perfect preseason, piling up an 8-0 record over the past month. The Cougars will try and carry that into their Canada West season opener this weekend, as they host Mount Royal University for a pair of games at The Co-operators Centre. The battle of the Cougars will begin with a Friday night contest at 7 p.m., followed by a Saturday rematch at 3 p.m.

Women’s Soccer – The Cougars earned a split at home last weekend, defeating the Lethbridge Pronghorns 1-0 on Saturday before falling 2-0 to the No. 3-ranked Calgary Dinos on Sunday afternoon. Regina (2-4-2) will play a home-and-home set with provincial rivals Saskatchewan this weekend, starting with a Friday night tilt at the U of R Field. Friday’s match is set for 5 p.m. and Sunday’s rematch is scheduled for a noon kickoff in Saskatoon.

Women’s Basketball – The Cougars opened their non-conference schedule last weekend with a quick two-game road trip, recording a 75-68 win over Brandon on Thursday and following that up with a 97-29 victory over Manitoba on Friday. The Cougars host the Cougar Classic this weekend at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport, a six-team tournament that also features Alberta, Carleton, Fraser Valley, Ryerson, and Saskatchewan. The eight-game tournament starts on Thursday and runs through to Saturday.

Swimming – The Cougars start the 2016-17 season at the Black and Green Challenge this Friday, with the time trial scheduled to run from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Lawson Aquatic Centre. The team’s returning swimmers are highlighted by Noah Choboter and Eva Madar while the newcomers include Brian Palaschuk, who competed for Team Canada at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Hawaii this summer.

Men’s Basketball – The Cougars travelled to Victoria, B.C. last weekend to open their season at the Guy Vetrie Memorial Tournament. The team lost 76-67 to host Victoria on Thursday, suffered a 75-61 loss to McMaster on Friday, and lost 82-61 to McGill on Saturday to finish 0-3 at the non-conference event. The U of R’s schedule continues this weekend at the Calgary Cup, where they’ll square off with Mount Royal, Calgary, and Windsor.

Cross Country – Adam Strueby’s second-place finish helped the men’s team to third place in the overall standings at the University of Saskatchewan Open on Saturday, just a single point behind second-place Alberta. Strueby had a time of 25:49 on the 8K course as he finished only five seconds behind the individual champion. The men’s team will send a full complement of runners to the WWU Classic this Saturday in Bellingham, Wash., while the women’s side will be represented by Tianna Dodds.

Rams Football (CIS Ranking: No. 4) – In the first game ever played at new Mosaic Stadium, the first-place Rams improved to 4-1 with a 37-29 win over Saskatchewan on Saturday. 16,500 spectators were at the game, which set a new record for the largest Canada West crowd for any sport. Danny Nesbitt had a pair of interceptions and was named the CIS Defensive Player of the Week for the Rams, who will return to action on Oct. 15 at Alberta.

Men’s Hockey – The Cougars completed their pre-season play with two games against NCAA Div. I opposition last weekend, falling 5-3 to Minnesota State on Saturday and 6-2 to St. Cloud State the following night. Regina will have a week off before beginning its Canada West season on the road against Lethbridge on Oct. 14 and 15.

Men’s Volleyball – The Cougars had an up-and-down weekend at a non-conference tournament in Brandon, eventually finishing with a 2-3 record. They started out with losses on Friday to both Winnipeg and host Brandon, but recovered with back-to-back wins over King’s and Sherbrooke on Saturday. That set up a rematch on Sunday with Sherbrooke, but the Vert et Or came up with a five-set win in the third-place match. The Cougars conclude their non-conference schedule with two home matches against Brandon on Oct. 14 and Oct. 15.

Women’s Volleyball – The Cougars went 1-4 and finished in fourth place at the Unruh Realty Invitational over the weekend in Winnipeg. Their win was a convincing three-set victory over Moncton in the round robin portion of the tournament, but lost the rematch with the Aigles Bleus in a third-place match that needed the full five sets to settle. The Cougars have two non-conference matches remaining before Canada West play starts, as they’ll head north for a pair of road matches with Saskatchewan on Oct. 14 and Oct. 15.

(Courtesy Braden Konschuh)