The Mount Royal University Cougars men's soccer team worked their way back into the U SPORTS Top 10 with two consecutive victories last weekend. Their first win came on Friday, Oct. 18 against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies on the road. After conceding a goal in the 58th minute, Timon Haetscher and Felix Liebich scored two goals in the final 20 minutes of the game to win the match 2-1. With their win-filled weekend, the Cougars placed 10th in the U SPORTS Top 10 National Rankings.
Miguel Da Rocha was the star of MRU's dominant 4-1 rout of the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns. Away from home for the second consecutive game, Da Rocha earned a hat trick, scoring all three of his goals in the first half. His first goal came in the 20th minute when he pirouetted into Ben Creswick's backheel pass and put the Cougars up 1-0. He scored his second goal just 10 minutes later when he chased a full-field pass down and buried a rocket of a shot past Lethbridge goalkeeper Armaan Thawer.
Da Rocha secured his hat trick with style, scoring his third goal with a beautiful bicycle kick and giving his team a 3-0 first-half advantage. The Cougars' Tim Beckedahl and Pronghorns' Holden Lehr scored a goal apiece in the second half, with MRU taking a 4-1 win in their final game of the 2024 Canada West regular season. The Cougars ended their season with a 7-2-5 record, finishing 2nd in the prairie division behind the University of Alberta Golden Bears, and are set to face the University of Victoria Vikes in the Canada West Men's Soccer Championship Quarter Finals on Oct. 25 at 11:30 a.m. at Foote Field and live on Canada West TV.
Meanwhile, the two Cougars hockey teams played in their first Crowchild Classic series of the season. While the women's team lost on Friday and promptly returned to the win column on Saturday, the men's team won both of their matchups against the University of Calgary Dinos and extended their win streak to six consecutive games. As a result of both teams' successful weekend, the men's hockey team placed second in the U SPORTS Top 10 National Rankings, while the women's team placed third.
Skating into Father David Bauer Arena on Friday night, the 4-0-0 Cougars were favoured to win against the 2-1-1 Dinos. Even though
Lyvia Butz scored her first goal of the season in the second period of the game, Dinos goaltender
Scout Anderson played an incredible game in the crease, helping the University of Calgary Dinos win 3-1.
Entering the game on a four-game heater, MRU took a 4-1 victory at the Flames Community Arena on Friday night. The Dinos could not stay out of the penalty box, incurring a total of 10 penalty minutes on five infractions. MRU scored their first goal on their second powerplay, thanks to
Kyle Walker, and with more scoring contributions from
Jayden Wiens,
Tristan Zandee, and
Justin Lies, the Cougars extended their win streak to five games.
The men's and women's teams switched arenas on Saturday night and both groups ended their games with one-goal victories. The women's squad returned home and won 2-1 against the Dinos at Flames Community Arena, thanks to goals from
Jordyn Hutt and
Lyndsey Janes. Meanwhile, the men's team pushed their win streak to six consecutive games with their 1-0 victory. Once again, the Cougars capitalized on Dinos penalties as
Robbie Holmes scored the lone goal of the game on a first-period powerplay. Farkas earned the shutout as MRU joined the University of Alberta Golden Bears as the only two undefeated teams at this point in the conference.
Cougars hockey returns on Oct. 25 as the women's team hosts the University of Saskatchewan Huskies at 7 p.m. at Flames Community Arena. The men's team, meanwhile, will visit the Huskies in Saskatoon on the same day, looking to extend their win streak to seven consecutive games. All games will also be broadcast live on Canada West TV.
U SPORTS Men's Soccer Rankings:
Rank
Rang |
School
Université |
Regular Season
Saison Régulière |
Playoffs
Séries |
ELO |
Previous Ranking
Classement Précédent |
| 1 |
Montreal |
10-1-2001 |
|
1764.54 |
1 |
| 2 |
UBC |
11-1-2003 |
|
1749.03 |
2 |
| 3 |
Toronto Metropolitan |
8-1-2003 |
|
1724.55 |
3 |
| 4 |
Carleton |
8-2-2002 |
1-0-0 |
1702.1 |
5 |
| 5 |
StFX |
8-1-2003 |
|
1699.54 |
4 |
| 6 |
Alberta |
10-1-2003 |
|
1688.79 |
8 |
| 7 |
York |
8-1-2003 |
|
1686.25 |
6 |
| 8 |
Toronto |
9-2-2001 |
|
1682.23 |
7 |
| 9 |
Victoria |
9-2-2004 |
|
1658.31 |
9 |
| 10 |
Mount Royal |
7-2-2005 |
|
1639.88 |
11 |
U SPORTS Men's Hockey Rankings:
Rank
Rang |
School
Université |
Regular Season
Saison Régulière |
ELO |
Previous Ranking
Classement Précédent |
| 1 |
UNB |
6-0 |
1897.82 |
1 |
| 2 |
Mount Royal |
6-0 |
1713.3 |
3 |
| 3 |
Alberta |
6-0 |
1695.64 |
7 |
| 4 |
Concordia |
5-1 |
1695.55 |
6 |
| 5 |
Ottawa |
5-1 |
1686.01 |
8 |
| 6 |
UQTR |
2-3 |
1658.38 |
2 |
| 7 |
McGill |
2-2 |
1643.43 |
5 |
| 8 |
Queen's |
5-1 |
1615 |
10 |
| 9 |
Saskatchewan |
4-2 |
1604.14 |
4 |
| 10 |
UBC |
2-4 |
1596.77 |
12 |
U SPORTS Women's Hockey Rankings:
Rank
Rang |
School
Université |
Regular Season
Saison Régulière |
ELO |
Previous Ranking
Classement Précédent |
| 1 |
UNB |
6-0 |
1897.82 |
1 |
| 2 |
Mount Royal |
6-0 |
1713.3 |
3 |
| 3 |
Alberta |
6-0 |
1695.64 |
7 |
| 4 |
Concordia |
5-1 |
1695.55 |
6 |
| 5 |
Ottawa |
5-1 |
1686.01 |
8 |
| 6 |
UQTR |
2-3 |
1658.38 |
2 |
| 7 |
McGill |
2-2 |
1643.43 |
5 |
| 8 |
Queen's |
5-1 |
1615 |
10 |
| 9 |
Saskatchewan |
4-2 |
1604.14 |
4 |
| 10 |
UBC |
2-4 |
1596.77 |
12 |
