Box Score Written by: John Gaudes

WINNIPEG - Coming off a tie game, but a moral victory over nationally-ranked Alberta on Saturday, the Bisons women's soccer team were looking to add to their weekend with a win over unranked Mount Royal.

The weather gave the University of Manitoba Turf Fields a sunny first half, followed by a windy, treacherous second half, which ended up being a nice metaphor for the Bisons efforts.  In the end, they were able to escape with another tie - with 3-3 being the final score.  The Bisons move to 1-3-3 on the year, while Mount Royal has their first tie of the year, moving to 3-4-1.

Since Mount Royal joined Canada West women's soccer last year, neither the Bisons or the Cougars have earned a win over the other.

Manitoba was led in the first half by forward Elyce Molyneaux. Opening the scoring with a sailing free kick, she followed up with several dynamic balls into the box, giving her teams several chances to score.  Forward Daniella Screbo would be the scorer on the other two Manitoba goals, with Robyn Kastner and Megan Graca getting assists.

"We started out very well, but little moments in the game change things. I know my team still struggles, when we score a goal we get nervous.  We defensively played very well, but had a few moments with loss of concentration," said Bisons head coach Vanessa Martina Lagunas.

"This was a successful weekend, though.  We have our ties, now we need to build and get our wins."

When Mount Royal was able to get momentum back, it was forward Ashleigh Wroe who paced her team, scoring a goal and getting multiple chances at more. Defender Reaghan Zilkie and forward Kelsey Kinzer were the other goal scorers for the Cougars.  Forward Donella Lockhart recorded the lone assist.

The first half started with action right off the bat, as an energetic and communicative Bisons team played simple and easy passes to earn chances.  Just eight minutes in, on a free kick, Molyneaux opened the scoring with a hard, high shot that flew over the hands of keeper Kelsey Marklund and into the top of the net.

Looking to build on the early 1-0 lead, Molyneaux put another great ball toward the far side of the net at the 13-minute mark, where Scerbo just missed a shot wide.  Those types of chances continued for most of the half, as the Bisons won 1-on-1 battles in the midfield - something they struggled with the day before.

This resulted in more success at the 20-minute mark, where Graca won one such battle, then put a strong pass to a racing Scerbo, who deked right to beat Marklund and put in an easy one to put the Bisons up 2-0.

Late in the first half, though, Mount Royal finally responded.  After some Bisons miscommunication at the end line, an earned corner ended up on the head of Zilkie, who put it in to bring her team within one goal at halftime.

The second-half saw both teams pick up tempo, as the scoring started to open up on both sides. At the 57-minute mark, Wroe beat Bisons keeper Martina Arrans to the ball on an easy pitch to put it past her to tie the game at two.  Wroe played a dominant second half overall, able to control the middle of the field with her speed, and earn touches in the box.

The Bisons, though, would manage to turn the tide back into their favour.  Again it was the combination of Graca and Scerbo, playing a mirror version of their first half play for another high flier over Marklund to put Manitoba up 3-2 in the 83rd minute.

That goal added to the drama of the last few minutes, and the Cougars were again able to find an answer.  In the 85th minute, Kinzer made a great turn at the midfield, then launched a shot from 20 yards out to find the corner of the net to knot the game at three.  The Cougars would have a golden chance in the last 30 seconds of penalty time to win the game, but a cross from Lockhart passed Arrans and ended up without a receiving player.

The Bisons women's soccer team now head to the west coast for their next game, as they play UBC in Vancouver on October 4th.  Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m. CST.  Mount Royal, meanwhile, goes home to play the University of Saskatchewan.  The game is on October 5th, with kickoff at 12:00 p.m.

Written by: John Gaudes