DAVID LARKINS, Wesmen Athletics

The Winnipeg Wesmen generated their chances, capitalized on one, but in the end fell short thanks in part to a late penalty kick.

Grace Miller had two goals, including one from the penalty spot in the 79th minute, and the Regina Cougars defeated the Winnipeg Wesmen 2-1 in a Canada West women's soccer match Saturday at the Ralph Cantafio Soccer Complex. 

Miller was granted the penalty when she tangled with Winnipeg's Tia Lecox chasing down a loose ball running away from goal. Miller fell during the contact and was awarded the shot that she put past keeper Taryn Raabe to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead. 

The Wesmen cut into that deficit very late with freshman Enya Bukvic scoring her first goal during time added on. Bukvic, who came on as a reserve, found herself clear in the middle of the pitch at the top of the box, took a touch and deposited a shot in the top corner over Regina keeper Allyson Ford. 

The Wesmen were not without their opportunities: they were awarded a penalty in the 84th minute, but Drew Kennedy's attempt was foiled by Ford; Tia Lecox had an opportunity near the six-yard box that was blocked, and the Wesmen in total generated 14 shots, eight of them on goal.

Lecox and Madisyn Furber, a sophomore who was a back-up keeper in 2019, led the Wesmen with three shots each, with Furber providing threats from the wing on a few occasions

"Positives, I want to point out players like (Madisyn Furber) and Sydney Arnold, they're stepping to the ball, they're creating chances," Wesmen head coach Amy Anderson said. "Their work rate is great and I want to focus on that for sure. We're getting goal-scoring chances, which is good, and now our quality needs to get better in the box."

Miller's first goal came in the 67th minute when she jumped on a rebound from a Taylor Bubnick shot and was unmarked to beat Raabe. 

"I think we started a little slower than we hoped," Regina coach Rob McCaffrey said. "We were trying to apply our principles and be a little more consistent. ... I thought we were threatening at moments, but not consistently enough. After we got that first goal I think we started to do things a little bit better towards the last 30 minutes of the game."

Raabe made seven saves on the day, as did Ford. 

The two teams meet again Sunday at noon at the Cantafio complex.

—#REPTHEW—