THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN’S MAIN CAMPUS IS SITUATED ON TREATY 6 TERRITORY AND THE HOMELAND OF THE MÉTIS.
THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN’S MAIN CAMPUS IS SITUATED ON TREATY 6 TERRITORY AND THE HOMELAND OF THE MÉTIS.
Women’s soccer:
With a thrilling 2–1 victory, the Huskies secured first place in the East division of the women’s soccer Canada West playoffs. After a 1–1 draw with the Winnipeg Wesmen the day before, Erica Hindmarsh was the hero on Oct. 25.
After Manitoba opened the scoring just 12 minutes into the contest off of a corner kick, Hindmarsh gave a brilliant individual effort to even the match at one in the 19th minute. While the green and white controlled the play, Manitoba hung around and the game was still tied after 90 minutes. In added time, Hindmarsh buried her second of the game and fifth of the season to put the Huskies ahead for good, giving them their 10th win of the season.
Men’s soccer:
As they entered the final weekend of the regular season, the Huskies needed one win to clinch themselves a berth in the CanWest postseason. They did just that on Oct. 24, with a hard fought 2–0 win over the Alberta Golden Bears.
Alberta needed a win, but they couldn’t put one past Greg Buckley, as the Huskies keeper recorded a five-save shutout — his first of the season. After a tight first-half, the Huskies broke open in the final 45 minutes for a pair of goals and picked up three huge points in the standings.
Rookie midfielder Gabriel Buatois, who hails from Kansas City, Mo., scored his first goal of the season in the 55th minute. Not letting up, Luigi Bekwayo buried his second goal of the season just two minutes later off of a nice pass from Marcello Gonzales. From there, they coasted to a 2–0 victory — as well as a 3–0 victory the following day over the MacEwan University Griffins — and the Dogs will enter the playoffs as the fourth seed in the Prairie division.
Football:
In their final home game of the season, the Huskies defence let them down as they dropped to 2–5 on the season with a 41–36 loss. In an interesting turn of events, second-year player Kyle Siemens was named the starting quarterback — and he didn’t disappoint.
Siemens finished 44–67 for 520 yards, which is the fourth most yards in Huskies history, to go along with three touchdowns and an interception. Defensively, the Dogs couldn’t slow down the Thunderbirds’ passing attack as Michael O’Connor threw for 449 yards and three touchdowns, while running for another.
Heading into the final week of the season, the Huskies need a win over provincial rival Regina, combined with an Alberta loss to the number one ranked Calgary Dinos, in order to sneak into the final playoff spot.
Women’s volleyball:
In their home opener, the Huskies came back to win a thrilling five-set match by a score of 3–2 (21–25, 25–27, 25–17, 28–26, 15–11) after trailing two sets to zero. The victory was the team’s first of the new season.
Offensively, Andrew Nelson led the way with 23 kills, to go along with seven digs. Libero Matt Erickson was solid, recording 16 digs in the match. The Huskies played a much better team game in the second half of the match, and it resulted in nine service aces and three blocks. Jordan Nowakowski was strong as usual, tallying 16 kills, nine digs and two aces.
The following night back at home, the Huskies took care of business again, this time with a 3–0 (25–20, 25–22, 25–18) win, improving their record to 2–2.
Women’s hockey:
After winning 5–3 at home on Oct. 23, the Huskies took to the road the following night and knocked off the Regina Cougars 2–1 in a double overtime thriller.
Regina opened the scoring midway through the first period and outplayed the Huskies throughout the game, outshooting them 39–24 in the contest. In the second period, Emma Nutter evened the game at one with a power play goal assisted from Kennedy Harris and Lauren Zary.
Early in the second overtime session, Julia Flinton found Rachel Johnson on a two-on-one break and she tipped it past the Regina netminder for the game-winner 1:25 into the fifth period. Jerrica Waltz made 38 saves in the game to pick up her second win of the season.
Men’s hockey:
In the second half of a weekend home-and-home series, the Huskies took down their provincial rivals 6–2 to complete the weekend sweep over the Regina Cougars. It was a special night at Rutherford Rink as the program honoured Cody Smuk, a former Huskie hockey player who lost his battle with cancer in June 2015, by raising his number 24 to the rafters.
The Dogs put on a great performance to honour their teammate with three goals just 3:17 apart to open up a 4–1 lead after the second period. Michael Sofillas, Sean Aschim, Andrew Johnson, Levi Cable and Cameron Blair all scored en route to a dominant 6–2 win, running the Huskies’ record to a perfect 6–0.
