CALGARY - The Mount Royal University Cougars held onto a victorious weekend as they hosted the Trinity Western University Spartans on Sunday, winning the match with 5-0.
Mount Royal's forward Mohamed El Gandour scored the first goal of the day just eight minutes in on a penalty kick, rebounding off the crossbar.
The Cougars' keeper Sterling Kerr worked hard in the first half, having to stave off a series of attempts on net. The Spartans were fighting fiercely to gain the upper hand, but were tripped up by a series of fouls. One such foul led to a corner kick by Cougars midfielder Dane Domic, leader in the CanadaWest scoring average. After a battle in front of the Trinity net, Trevor MacPhee shot through the mass of bodies to earn his first goal of the season.
El Gandour was tripped up by a Spartan, awarding him a clean penalty kick leading to the Cougars' third goal. The Spartans made several attempts in the Cougars' zone, but were met head-on by Kerr.
Trinity Western keeper Sebastian Colyn was facing a torrent of shots from Mount Royal as the Spartan defense struggled to fend them off. Cougars defenseman MacPhee achieved his second goal of the day with assistance from Domic, bringing the lead to 4-0. The Spartans fought hard to make a dent but were thwarted by the halftime whistle.
The Spartans began the second half with a strong offensive and a resilient defense. They soon managed a header shot on net but were thwarted by Kerr. A Cougars shot on the Trinity net was also met with an agile save by Colyn.
At 61 minutes, Trevor MacPhee earned a hat trick with an assist from El Gandour, bringing the Cougars lead to 5-0. It was promptly followed by a hard take down of Orest Ndabaneze by Trinity Western's Caleb Johnson, earning a yellow card.
Trinity made a series of substitutions which made a real difference as they gained several shots on Kerr. They finally sunk one deep into the net but were foiled by an offside call. The Spartans had several close calls in front of net but just couldn't make it past the defense.
The match ended with a clean Mount Royal victory of 5-0. The Cougars play again Saturday, September 28th, against the MacEwan University Griffins. It will be broadcasted live on CanadaWest.tv, presented by Co-op.
