Griffins' first road trip to Calgary features battle of undefeated teams

EDMONTON – Three of the four women's soccer teams remaining in Canada West with full points in their games to date are in action against each other this weekend, so something will have to give.

MacEwan (No. 9 in the country) is one of them after going 2-0-0 with a pair of victories over Manitoba last weekend.

They bus to Calgary for matches against the 2-0-0 Dinos (U SPORTS No. 7) on Saturday (12 p.m.) and the 2-0-0 Mount Royal Cougars on Sunday (1 p.m., both Canada West TV).

UBC (4-0-0) is only other Canada West team with full points in their opening matches.

"We're happy with our opening weekend in securing the six points," said Griffins head coach Dean Cordeiro of back-to-back 3-1 wins over Manitoba at home. "Week 2 is ahead with lots of good competition. U of C's done well to start the season and same with MRU, so we're just going to take it, as always, one game at a time. 

"Our focus will be for U of C on Saturday, which we know will be an awesome game, then we'll prepare for MRU the following game. U of C's a strong team and we always have good battles, so we're looking forward to it on Saturday."

MacEwan had the most points they've ever had in a Canada West season in 2024 with 33 after a 10-1-3 record, but it was still one back of Calgary (11-2-1) for top spot in the Prairie Division.

With six goals on the board through two matches, the Griffins' offence is already in mid-season form. Defensively, they have yet to allow a goal in the run of play, but were burned by two late goals last weekend on set pieces.

"Obviously scoring three goals in back-to-back games is always nice and we had a couple others disallowed or bars/posts," said Cordeiro. "I like the form we're in in terms of our attacking organization and what we've been able to accomplish. 

"We've been rock solid defensively, as well. In our defensive organization, we've got to clean up some of our set pieces. Both goals we conceded were on a corner kick, as well as a free kick, but it's early days and we're only getting better week in and week out.

"We're just looking to keep stacking performances."