EDMONTON - Fourth-years Emily Duxbury and Adrienne Poulin scored the winning and insurance goals, respectively, for the University of Alberta Pandas in a 2-0 victory over the Regina Cougars Sunday afternoon at Foote Field.
It was largely the Pandas dominating possession in this one, and as a result outshot the Cougars 22-13 (11-6 on target) en route to their fifth win of the year. They now sit at 5-2-1 in the Prairie Division, and put some more distance between them and the Cougars for the fourth and final playoff spot. It was Alberta's sixth-straight game unbeaten, as their last loss came on September 8th to the Huskies. With the loss, the Cougars move to 3-5-0 and are running out of runway to sneak into that fourth position.
The keepers were particularly strong today, as Alberta's Autumn Wynn collected her fourth clean sheet of the season with six saves and the Cougars were led by a phenomenal Kareena Anderson. Although she conceded twice, she made nine saves on the day and prevented the Alberta lead from ballooning too large.
Duxbury was all over the Cougars backline early, recording three shots on target in the first ten minutes which culminated in a header from a Tara Simonot corner that just snuck by the Regina keeper for an early 1-0 lead. A beautiful through ball in the 16th minute found the boot of a streaking Duxbury, but a phenomenal save from Andersen kept the deficit at one. THe Pandas largely dominated the half, with multiple other close chances as the period came to a close, including an in-tight chance from Adrienne Poulin that was cleared from the line by Cougars defender Miranda Baker. The score would remain at 1-0 into the half, with the Pandas outshooting the visitors 14-6 (5-3 on target).
After a quiet start to the second half, Poulin was able to break through in the 58th minute with a well placed strike for her third goal of the season to put the hosts up by two headed into the last third of the game. Play would stay largely in the Cougars own half like the first as the Pandas were very impressive with possession.
The squads are both at home next weekend, as Alberta hosts the Manitoba Bisons and Winnipeg Wesmen, while Regina plays host to the Calgary Dinos and Lethbridge Pronghorns.
