Justin McCaffrey, Mount Royal Sports Information

CALGARY – The Mount Royal Cougars upset the Alberta Pandas 2-1 on Saturday afternoon. Morgan Corbett scored the opening goal for Alberta before Emily Sands tied it in the second half. Erin Holt then scored the game winner shortly thereafter to lead the Cougars to victory.

Mount Royal had the first scoring chance of the match in the 15th minute. Carly Neis got a head on great corner ball from Amanda Schafer but it went just over the goal. The Cougars, dictated much of the pace early on, as it looked like there was an upset in the making.

Nine minutes later the Pandas showed why they are the second-highest ranked team in the conference. Some skilled passing plays put the ball on the foot of Fallon Dickie at the edge of the box. The fifth-year veteran swung the ball into the six-yard box where Morgan Corbett was waiting for it. Corbett calmly headed the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal to put Alberta up one.

Alberta continued to pressure Mount Royal but Miah Godek held strong in the Cougars' goal to keep them within at the halftime whistle.

The Pandas took it to the Cougars in the early going of the second half but Mount Royal was able to weather the storm. Mount Royal didn't have much in the way of chances until Emily Sands grabbed the ball at the top of the box. Sands unleashed a bomb that arced over the head of Cassie Bazzerelli to tie the match.

The Cougars took the lead in the 66th minute when Claire Thorimbert made a great through ball to a streaking Erin Holt. Holt dashed down the left wing and lobbed another ball far side, over the keeper to give the Cougars their first lead of the match.

The Pandas pressed but replacement goalkeeper Maria Tait stood tall on her senior day. Mount Royal took the match 2-1 and moved into a playoff spot, for the time being.

Mount Royal improves to 3-6-4, while the Pandas drop to 8-3-2 in regular season play.

Alberta will head back to Edmonton tomorrow where they will play MacEwan in their final game of the season. Kickoff has been confirmed for 12pm.

Mount Royal will finish off their season at home against the UNBC Timberwolves tomorrow at 11am on MRU Stadium Field.