The Bisons women’s soccer team were beaten 1-2 by the Mount Royal Cougars on Saturday, Sept. 13.

The early minutes of the first half saw the Cougars push for a goal, but the Bisons responded in the 10th minute [10:53] with a shot from Taryn Cabak that went wide.

The Cougars opened the scoring in the 16th minute [16:37], with Gabrielle Linford finding the back of the net.

The Bisons continued to press with Tabata Bravo testing Mount Royal goalie Ella Filek in the 20th minute [20:05], but her shot was saved. Another opportunity for the Bisons came at the half hour mark [30:07] when Mia Fonseca fired a shot on target, only for Filek to make a save again.

Between the 34th and 38th minutes [34:36 to 38:14], the Cougars delivered shots, but the Bisons goalie Holly Dyker saved them.

The Cougars doubled their lead in the 41st minute [41:29] when Analisa Galvez scored, with an assist from Dany Juarez.

The first half ended with the Cougars leading 2-0.

The Bisons came in stronger between the 58th to 62nd minutes [58:05 to 62:49], but they were unable to score.

In the 90th minute [90:00], Taleesa Minnaar scored, assisted by Taylor Sousa, to narrow the deficit, but the Cougars secured a 2-1 victory.

Bisons women’s soccer head coach Mark Colvin shared his assessment of the game. “I think it’s an extremely technical team,” said Colvin. “They got on the ball with a good ball tempo early. And I think honestly, early in the game, from a defensive standpoint, we were being way too patient — we were being way too timid — whereas our identity and how we want to play is […] aggressively defending forwards, cutting down distances [and] forcing mistakes as opposed to waiting for mistakes.”

Colvin explained how he motivated his players to focus and play their game in the second half. “At halftime, the key message to the group was that we cannot give them so much time and space on the ball. We need to be aggressive, defend forwards and just be confident in our ability to win the ball, and then attack, connect passes and go […] In the second half, we came out with more aggressiveness on the ball, we were more brave, playing with a quicker ball tempo, and I think that […] we had a much better half.”

In the second game, the Cougars picked up a 1-0 win over the Bisons on Sunday, Sept. 14.

The Bisons and the Cougars pushed for a breakthrough in the first half, but neither side could convert their shots, sending the game into half-time scoreless.

In the 50th minute [50:20], Tamara Djurisic scored a penalty goal for the Cougars.

In the 89th minute [89:18], Bravo had a shot at goal for the Bisons, but goalie Filek saved it.

The game ended in a 1-0 win for the Mount Royal Cougars.

In Prairie league standings, the Bisons have one point, with one draw and five losses.

The Bisons women’s soccer team will face the Saskatchewan Huskies on Friday, Sept. 19 and Saturday, Sept. 20 at the Princess Auto Stadium.