After playing their first four regular season games on the road, the Bisons women's soccer team returns home this weekend to take on MacEwan and Alberta. Saturday's game at 1 pm will be at the West Turf Field, and Sunday's game at the same time is at Princess Auto Stadium. Click
here for tickets for Saturday and
here for tickets for Sunday.
A fast-paced, versatile Bisons squad enter play tied for fourth in Canada West, with nine goals scored. Fourth-year forward
Janelle Chomini and true freshman forward
Nyema Prentice-Whyte lead the way, with three goals each.
Captain
Jessica Tsai has added three assists, and is just three shy of tying Olympic gold medalist Desiree Scott for first, with 26. Defender
Shannon Lee also has three assists, a career high.
Expect the offensive flair to continue this weekend, beginning against MacEwan, whose 13 goals are tied for third in the conference.
A total of nine different Griffins have found the back of the net, led by Hannah Harper, Alyx Henderson, Sophie Lavallee and Amelia Russo, who all have two goals.
Fourth-year forward Grace Mwasalla, the school record holder for goals and points, has added three assists and a goal. Look for the creative All-Canadian to help lead the charge for her side.
Last season, Mwasalla was involved in both goals the Griffins scored in a come from behind 2-1 win against Manitoba. She assisted on the tying goal in the 41st minute and scored the winner in the 61st, in a contest where Manitoba controlled play for significant portions of time.
Countering the Griffins attack is an experienced Bisons back line, including Lee,
Ava Memka and
Evelyn Lekivetz, three of 15 Bisons who've started at least once during their time at UM. In net,
Holly Dyker is coming off her first career U SPORTS shutout last weekend against Regina, a 3-0 win where she stopped all seven shots.
The following afternoon, the Bisons welcome Alberta to Princess Auto Stadium. The two sides engaged in a classic last season in Winnipeg, with the Pandas holding on for a 2-1 win.
Manitoba had plenty of chances, scoring off the foot of Chomini in the 75th. Look for her to create chaos again against Alberta, having scored eight goals in her last two seasons. That total is just two shy of the top ten in program history.
On the Alberta side, speedster Adrienne Poulin returns at midfield. She scored both of the visitor's goals in last year's 2-1 win, and has two this season to tie for the team lead.
