The Cougars hosted the Trinity Western University Spartans on a hot and windy afternoon on Mount Royal Field. Despite registering four shots, the Cougars couldn't put anything past Yasmine Pahal as they lost narrowly to the Spartans, 1-0.

The weather was worst in the first half, as gusts of over 40 km/h created havoc for players on both sides. Still, the Cougars were on the attack early. Even though the Spartans kicked the half off, Tamara Djurisic earned herself an opportunistic free kick slightly outside of the box in just the first minute, but Pahal denied the goal with her outstretched right hand.

The Cougars continued to attack with ferocity for minutes after the goal but soon, the Spartans regained momentum by forcing turnover after turnover. Their first real scoring opportunity came after a nasty collision gave the Spartans' leader in shots, Sophie Crawford, a chance from a few feet outside of the box. The Cougars built a wall of defenders and were able to block the shot.

Goal scoring opportunities were at a scarcity in this game, especially in the first half, and as the physicality picked up towards the end of the first 45 minutes, both Ella Filek and Pahal remained perfect as their teams entered halftime in a 0-0 stalemate.

The Spartans opened the second half with strength, prioritizing possession and using short tic-tac-toe passing to combat the strong winds. Following her first half ways, Djurisic registered an early shot on goal, but that would be the Cougars' only scoring attempt until much later in the game. TWU laid an onslaught of shots on MRU, but Ruby Szautner, Isabella Chirico and Taylor Young all picked up blocks as they rejected the Spartans' advances.

However, they could only hold on for so long, as after some intelligent playmaking from the Spartans' player of the game, Emily Watchman, and fancy footwork from Veronica Walter, TWU earned themselves a long free kick opportunity with less than 20 minutes to go. Crawford missed her chance in the first half, but buried her free kick opportunity in the second from well over 30 feet away. Using the wind to her advantage, her shot curled into the top right corner of the net, deflecting off of Filek's reaching left hand and sneaking under the bar.

Julia Makoloski created numerous opportunities on the right side of the field with her dynamic offensive runs and Djurisic earned even more free kicks, but no matter how hard the Cougars pushed, the defense of the Spartans proved to be too tough to tumble, as they stole the 1-0 win, their fourth of the 2024-25 season.

Watchman took home Spartans Player of the Game honours while Siddaly Alcock won Player of the Game for the Cougars. Alcock was all business following the match, focussing on how the Cougars could improve their chances in their next matchup.

"I think we just needed to capitalize on more of our chances," Alcock told post-game interviewer Dione Wearmouth."We had a lot of them, we just needed to calm down a little bit."

The Cougars women's soccer team look to prevent a losing streak as they take on the University of Fraser Valley Cascades on Sunday, Sept. 29 at 1 P.M. on Mount Royal Field and Canada West TV.