September 22 - The University of Manitoba Bisons won their third straight game, defeating the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns Saturday morning, 2-0.

Manitoba was able to overcome a strong outing by Lethbridge keeper, Megan Lumley and get goals from Stephanie Rurak and Caley Miskimmin.

“Last year we knew that [Lumley] played like that. She’s kind of all over the place,” said Rurak of Lumley. “Our forwards are really fast so she knows to come out and challenge them a lot. So we just sending balls to her and we knew one would go in. It was frustrating, but we just kept pushing, and they came.”

With the win, the Bisons improve to 4-1-0 on the season, and will retain at least a share of second-place in the Canada West standing. The Pronghorns drop to 1-2-2.

At the 9-minute mark, Miskimmin was hit with a leading pass as she cut towards the centre of the field. As she neared the penalty-kick line, she let a shot go towards the right side of the net, but Pronghorns keeper Megan Lumley went horizontal to grab the streaking shot and keep the Bisons off the board.

But Lumley was unable to hold off the Manitoba attack completely. With 29-minute elapsed, Desiree Scott was hauled down just to the left of the Lethbridge net and the Bisons were awarded a penalty kick. Rurak took the shot, going right side and Lumley could only stand and watch as Manitoba took a 1-0 lead.

“I felt solid about the shot. We’ve been practicing it a lot in our practices and Des worked really hard for us to earn it so I felt confident going into it,” said Rurak.

Miskimmin and Lumley continued to battle throughout the match. At the 34-minute mark, the two collided as the Bison forward was trying to gain possession but the ball skidded out of bounds. Four minutes later, Lumley came out long to challenge Miskimmin on the left-hand side, but missed as Miskimmin sidestepped the Pronghorns keeper giving her a chance at a wide-open net. However, her shot rang off the bottom left-post.

In the second-half, Manitoba’s relentless attack continued with one of their best chances happening only seven minutes in. A triangle of passes from Scott to Miskimmin to Karli Colpitts had Lumley racing, but she was able to get into position and make another great save, stopping Colpitts, the reigning CIS player of the week in close.

Miskimmin was finally able to crack Lumley at the 70-minute mark. With crowded action in front of the Pronghorns net, Rurak passed to Miskimmin, who dodged a charging Lumley and then Miskimmin made sure she didn’t miss an open net twice. That put the Bisons up 2-0.

The Bisons kept up the attack forcing the play to be in the Pronghorns end for the majority of the second half. But during extra time, Lethbridge’s Crystal Theodore managed to break free and get a shot in close on Manitoba’s netminder, Ashley Forbes. She came out to challenge, wrapping up the ball and keeping her shut out intact.

The Bison women’s soccer team returns to action Sunday, when they host the 2-2 University of Calgary Dinos. Game time is scheduled for 12 p.m. at University Stadium. Lethbridge will make the six-hour bus trip to Regina to take on the 0-4 Rams.

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