Box Score Calgary, AB – The Mount Royal Cougars outlasted the Winnipeg Wesmen on Saturday afternoon, coming from behind to beat them 2-1 at Cougars Stadium Field. Rookies Lewis Odosa and Drake Rendle each scored in the second half for Mount Royal. Prince Amara scored the lone goal for the Wesmen.
Over the past three seasons, the matches between the Cougars and Wesmen have not been for the faint at heart and Saturday's match up was no exception. There was no love lost between the two sides, since their last meeting in October of 2014.
Fouls and cautions were flying early in the first half. Neither side had a quality scoring chance through the first 30 minutes of play.
Winnipeg broke through in the 34
th minute when a miscommunication between defender
Tyrin Hutchings and goalkeeper
Kamil Zielinski led to a collision. Prince Amara collected the loose ball after the teammates bumped one another and deposited the ball into the empty net. Winnipeg led 1-0 after the first half.
Just six minutes into the second half Mount Royal scored the equalizer. Rookie striker
Lewis Odosa buried his first as a Cougar off a great feed from fellow first year
Josh Cameron.
The game looked like it was destined to remain tied until the 89
th minute when sophomore midfielder
Brendan Canejo swung a beautiful ball into the box.
Drake Rendle got up over the defender and headed the ball into the far right corner giving Mount Royal the 2-1 lead.
The Cougars held on for the 2-1 victory and improved their all-time record against the Wesmen to 3-4-0.
Kamil Zielinski recorded the win making two saves on three shots on goal. Logan Grzenda made 7 of 9 saves for the Wesmen.
The win brings Mount Royal to 1-0-0 on the season. The Wesmen drop to 0-1-0 after the loss.
The Cougars and Wesmen will play the second half of their weekend series on Sunday afternoon at 2:30pm on Cougars Stadium Field.
