Box Score Less than 24 hours removed from a heart-breaking loss the to reigning U SPORTS national champion MacEwan Griffins, the University of Manitoba Bisons women's soccer team suffered their second loss of the weekend. Manitoba came up just short, falling to the Alberta Pandas by a score of 2-0 on Sunday, Oct. 2 at West Turf Field in Winnipeg.  
 
The Bisons, who have found themselves in several tight games of late, gave up a goal in the 65^th minute to Alberta who went on the seal the 2-0 victory. The goal came from the Panda's Cara Lang after receiving a pass from Mckayla Brault. Lang put her strike to the short side and underneath Bison keeper Karina Bagi for what proved to be the game-winning goal.
 
The visitors added some insurance with their second goal in the 87^thminute off the foot of Erin Hope.
 
The loss sees the Bisons' record fall to 3-6-1 on the season while Alberta improves to 6-3-1 in the very competitive Canada West conference.  
 
"We have to stay positive," expressed Bisons Head Coach Vanessa Martinez Lagunas. "We need to keep believing in the process. I think we are doing a lot of things right but it is the small details we need to put together. Four games left in our season, we have to finish strong."
 
The two teams played a tight defensive game for the majority of the first half, neither team allowing many high-quality scoring chances. On their first of two corner kicks in the opening 45-minutes, Alberta's Hope dropped the ball perfectly into the Bison box, the ensuing header shot from teammate Brooke Lang hit the cross bar before being punched from harms way by the Bisons' Bagi. 
 
Manitoba got their first quality chance in the 37^thminute of the match. Bianca Cavalcanti hustled down the field to battle with an Alberta defender, resulting in a corner kick for the Bisons. Moments later, the herd's corner wound up on the foot of captain Jessica Tsai, who crossed the ball into dangerous territory and onto the head of Cavalcanti whose shot ended up just wide. 
 
In the 39^thminute, the Bisons found themselves with another opportunity deep in the Alberta end. Dalima Chhibber lined up the free kick just outside the Pandas' 18-yard box, put a low and powerful shot to the left side of the net but visiting keeper Autumn Wynn made the save.
 
The defence-first mentality for both teams in the first half sent the two sides to the halftime break tied at 0-0. 
 
Alberta didn't need to wait as long for their first scoring chance of the second half. At the 50^th minute, Wanda Czebreszuk received a pass through the Bison goal crease from Brault but it was Bagi who stole the show with a huge point-blank save to keep the match at 0-0. 
 
The 65^th minute brought the games first goal coming from Cara Lang with the assist going to Brault. Despite the goal, Bagi remained composed in the Manitoba net, stopping the Pandas' Emily Duxbury in a one-on-one situation just two minutes later.  
 
In the opposite goal, Wynn stood tall herself as time ran down in the match. The Alberta keeper turned away chances from Cavalcanti in the 78-minute mark and then Chhibber's free kick in the 80^thminute. 
 
The goal from the Panda's Hope in the 87^th minute sealed the 2-0 win for the visitors. 
 
The Bisons now turn their attention to a pair of games next week against cross-town rival, the Winnipeg Wesman on Thursday October 6 at 6:00 p.m. and Saturday October 8 at 12:00 p.m.