By Jon Roe
The female soccersaurs opened up their season with a two game set this past weekend.
The Dinos started their trip in Saskatoon at the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.
Rookie Dinos keeper Courtney Hefferman was untested throughout most of the match, facing only eight shots in total with three on target. The Dinos managed 17 shots in total on Hefferman’s counterpart, Codi Corrigan. Corrigan stopped eight of the nine that were fired on target. Veteran midfielder Shirley Blundell scored the only goal for the soccersaurs in the 81st minute.
“Attacking for our team is something that we’ve definitely always needed work on,” noted Dinos captain Erin Harris. “Defensively we are a very strong team.”
Rookie Dinos midfielder Lindsay Burrowes and second-year mid Cayla Scavo were substitutions in the 1-0 win for the Dinos.
On Sun. Sept. 10, the Dinos were in Edmonton taking on the University of Alberta Pandas, who narrowly missed the playoffs in fifth place, two points behind the fourth-place Dinos.
The game remained scoreless until the 71st minute, when Panda central defender Natalie Swain took advantage of a dead-ball, passing off to striker Alex Strap who fired it into the bottom of the net.
The Dinos were out-shot 21-4, with rookie Hefferman forced to stop 10 of 11 Panda shots on net. The Dinos only managed one shot on net in the 1-0 loss.
“Our loss to U of A was unfortunate,” said Harris. “[We need to] play the system–that we’ve learned to play–and just go from there.”
Next up for the Dinos is another two-game road trip to the West Coast. They start on Fri., Sept. 15 against the University College of Fraser Valley Cascades, who played last year in the British Columbia Collegiate Athletic Association, where they compiled an impressive 9-1-4 record.
The Cascades have started out with a 1-1-0 record, winning against the University of Regina Cougars and losing against the University of Manitoba Bisons.
The Dinos then play Sat., Sept. 16 against the Trinity Western University Spartans, who finished third in Canada West last year with an 8-4-4 record. The Spartans have started the season 2-0-0, outscoring their opponents 7-1 in the two wins.