Round-up

Apparently we love down to the wire finishes

Aautumn McDowell
Sports Editor

Rams

The Regina Rams pushed their record to 4-1 after earning a 30-27 decision victory over the visiting University of Manitoba Bisons in nerve-wracking fashion.

Things got off to a bit of a slow start for both teams as Manitoba escaped the first quarter with a narrow three-point lead off of Nick Boyd’s 21-yard field goal.

The small lead wouldn’t last long as the Rams were able to notch a 21-yard field goal of their own from Taylor Wandler – who is still taking over the kicking duties for the injured Chris Bodnar. The Rams also added a 49-yard touchdown pass to fourth-year wide receiver Kolton Solomon, all in just the first five minutes of the second quarter.

The Bisons were able to rally their own touchdown in the second as Thomas Miles picked up a fumble and took in nine yards to the endzone. The third quarter also saw veteran Rams quarterback, Marc Mueller, scamper in 12 yards for another touchdown before the two teams traded field goals early in the fourth.

And then, Manitoba really learned how to score. Lead by signal caller Cam Crew the Bisons were able to muster two majors in a span of roughly two minutes to suddenly put themselves ahead on the scoreboard. Though it had seemed to some that the momentum was now strongly in the Bisons favor, Mueller had other ideas.

Mueller was able to rally the troops and cap off a 9-play, 95-yard drive with a 23-yard touchdown pass to fifth-year slotback Connor Haas. With just 20 seconds remaining on the clock, the Rams had sealed their fate.

The Rams will enjoy a bi-week before they look to continue their winning ways against UBC on Oct. 13 in hostile territory.

Quick hits: Quarterback Marc Mueller joined Teale Orban as the only Rams quarterbacks to throw 500 career completions. Jamir Walker registered his 17th career interception against the Bisons, beating his own school record.

Men’s hockey

The Cougar men’s hockey team finally made the jump from pre-season to the regular season this weekend when the UBC Thunderbirds paid a visit to The Co-operators

After falling 4-3 to the Thunderbirds on night No. 1, the Cougars came back for revenge on night No. 2 and refused to lose.

The Thunderbirds were the first to strike as forward, Matt Fleming, was able to sneak one past Cougars goalie Andrew Hayes five minutes into the first.

Troy Hunter answered for the Cougars as he sent home a pass from third-year forward Matt Strueby to register his first CIS career goal, and get the goose egg off of the board for the home team.

Both teams came out of the second intermission with a boost of offensive production.

Cole Wilson put the visitors back up by one four minutes into the second period, but second-year forward, Tyler Henry, registered his own goal for the home team, tying things up just three minutes later, but the scoring wouldn’t stop there.

Hunter scored his second goal of the night to put the Cougars up by one midway through the second but UBC’s Brad Hoban evened the score once again with just under two minutes left in the period.

Regina came out of the gates thirsty for a win in the third as Strueby lit the lamp just 16 seconds in to once again give the Cougars the lead. However, it wouldn’t last long as roughly a minute later Wyatt Hamilton replied for the Thunderbirds.

After that emotional rollercoaster, and a score deadlocked at 4-4, this game was headed to extra time, and as if that wasn’t enough, a scoreless overtime meant this game would only be solved by a shootout.

Of course, just as the game was a back and forth battle, the shootout was no different. The shootout lasted eight rounds before Cougars veteran, Craig Cuthbert, put one top shelf to give his team their first win of the season.

The Cougars (1-1) will now travel to Alaska this weekend to play a pair of exhibition games.

Quick hits: With his four-point game, Troy Hunter is now third in Canada West scoring with five points in two games, he had one point in 22 games last season.

Women’s soccer

The Cougar women’s soccer team has easily won the award for biggest surprise so far this season.

The Cougars came into last weekend with a 4-0 record – already three more wins than they had all of last season – but, unfortunately, their winning streak came to an end.

Facing Trinity Western University, the second-place team in the CIS, the Cougars seemed to have bitten off more than they could chew. The Spartans managed to get three unanswered goals past Regina’s third-year goalie, Stephanie Possenburg, thus handing the Cougars their first loss of the season.

Things didn’t get any easier for the Cougars as they were up against another tough opponent, UBC, in the second night of their weekend series.

Things went from bad to worse for the Cougars and, unfortunately, they were unable to generate any offense once again while the Thunderbirds notched six unanswered goals en route to their victory.

Regina (4-2) plays their next four games at home, beginning with Fraser Valley on Oct. 6, game time is slated for 12 p.m.

Quick hits: Goalie Stephanie Possberg still leads the Canada West in shutouts per game after posting three shutouts in four contests, while Meagan Cormier also leads the conference in shots per game with 34 shots in six games.

Cross Country

Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams travelled to Minneapolis last weekend to participate in the Roy Griak Invitational.

There were no surprises on the men’s side as once again Kelly Wiebe dominated the competition and came in first place in the men’s division. He beat the second place runner by 18 seconds, which is basically two hours in running time.

Other notable finishes for the Cougars came from fifth-year Iain Fyfe who finished in 47th and rookie Adam Strueby finished in 78th, respectively.

The women’s side also had a strong meet. Fourth-year Karissa LePage finished in second place and teammate Avery Westberg finished 35th in the NCAA division 2 competition.

The Cougars will now make a short trip to Saskatoon on Saturday to participate in the University of Saskatchewan Open. They might as well just give Wiebe the trophy now.

Quick hits: After the impressive finish at the Roy Griak Invitational, the Cougar men’s cross country team is now ranked sixth in the CIS.