THIS WEEK IN COUGAR ATHLETICS
Friday
Women’s Basketball – vs. Trinity Western, 6:00 PM (CKHS)
Women’s Volleyball – at Calgary, 6:00 PM (Calgary, Alta.)
Men’s Basketball – vs. Trinity Western, 8:00 PM (CKHS)
Saturday
Swimming – at Odlum Brown Colleges Cup Pacific (Vancouver, B.C.)
Women’s Volleyball – at Calgary, 4:00 PM (Calgary, Alta.)
Women’s Basketball – vs. Trinity Western, 6:00 PM (CKHS)
Men’s Basketball – vs. Trinity Western, 8:00 PM (CKHS)
Sunday
Swimming – at Odlum Brown Colleges Cup Pacific (Vancouver, B.C.)
Women’s Basketball (U SPORTS Ranking: No. 6) – A pair of standout individual performances led the Cougars (2-0) to a pair of tight road wins over Calgary this weekend to open Canada West play. Kyanna Giles had 29 points on Friday to power the Cougars to an 81-76 win on Friday, and Faith Reid had a sensational 23-point second-half performance on Saturday to lift the U of R to an 85-75 victory. The Cougars host Trinity Western on Friday and Saturday at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport. Both of those games will start at 6:00 PM.
Men’s Basketball – The Cougars (0-2) opened the Canada West schedule with the tough task of taking on Calgary, a team that returns most of its players from last year’s national championship-winning squad and debuts at No. 3 in this week’s U SPORTS poll. The Dinos took 91-68 and 95-60 home wins on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Now 6-3 against U SPORTS opposition this year including their strong non-conference showing, the Cougars will host their home openers this Friday and Saturday against Trinity Western at the CKHS. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 on both nights.
Women’s Volleyball – The Cougars (2-2) celebrated their Canada West home openers in style over the weekend, defeating Winnipeg in four sets on Friday and following that up with a straight-sets win on Saturday. Ashlee Sandiford had double-doubles in both matches for the Cougars, finishing with 30 kills and a .217 hitting percentage to go along with 23 digs in the two wins. The Cougars will now hit the road for a pair of road matches against the top-ranked team in the nation, as they’ll face a Calgary team which had last weekend off after opening up the year with twin three-set wins over Thompson Rivers.
Swimming – This weekend marks the first major meet of the season for the Cougars, as they’ll travel to the West Coast for the Odlum Brown Colleges Cup Pacific hosted by UBC on Saturday and Sunday. The competition will be a solid tune-up meet for the Canada West Championships, which the University of Calgary will host on Nov. 23 and Nov. 24.
Women’s Hockey – The Cougars (4-3-0-1) and Saskatchewan split a home-and-home series last weekend. Regina won 2-0 on Friday thanks to goals by Jaycee Magwood and Ireland South and a shutout by Morgan Baker, but the Huskies replied with a 2-0 win on Saturday in Saskatoon. The Cougars will have this weekend off before returning to the conference schedule on Nov. 9 and Nov. 10 at home against Alberta.
Men’s Hockey – The Cougars (2-5-1) lost both ends of a home-and-home with Saskatchewan, losing 4-2 to the Huskies on Friday in Saskatoon and 4-1 on Saturday in Regina. Still in a playoff position in Canada West with five points, the Cougars will rest this weekend before taking to the ice against Alberta (5-3) on Nov. 9 and Nov. 10 in Edmonton.
Cross Country – Brayden Mytopher and Kaila Neigum were the top finishers for the U of R’s cross country teams at the Stewart Cup on Saturday in Calgary. Mytopher was 11th with a 10K time of 34:38, while Neigum placed 14th overall with an 8K time of 32:41. The Cougars will now taper for the 2018 U SPORTS Championships, which Queen’s University will host on Saturday, Nov. 10 at Fort Henry Hill in Kingston, Ont.
Women’s Soccer – After clinching a postseason berth two weekends ago, the Cougars travelled up to Edmonton to square off with MacEwan in a Canada West play-in match with the winner to advance to a conference quarterfinal against Alberta. But the U of R’s season came to an end as the Griffins scored what would turn out to be the winner in the 17th minute and then added another just before halftime on their way to a 4-0 victory over the Cougars. The match was the final time in a U of R uniform for fifth-year players Angela Lalonde, Nikita Senko, and Brianna Wright. Goalkeeper Ashton Lowry also graduates from this year’s squad.
Rams Football – Starting their fourth different quarterback in the last four games, the Rams hung around for most of the first half but eventually saw their season come to an end with a 57-14 home loss to Saskatchewan on Friday night. Robbie Avram, Cole Benkic, Matt Degelman, Layne Hull, Grey McKen Danny Nesbitt, Kasim Ocaya, Bryan Robinson, Atlee Simon, Thomas Stanton, and Ryan Warner all played their last games for the Rams on Friday, while the team also graduates fifth-year players Jack Louisdort and Noah Picton.
(Braden Konschuh/UofR Athletics)
