CALGARY – Tessa Miller scored on a free kick in the 90th minute to complete a furious Calgary Dinos rally late in the second half, as they defeated the Regina Cougars 5-4 in an entertaining game on the West Varsity Pitch in Calgary.

BOX SCORE

Down 4-1 with 12 minutes to play, the Dinos seemed left for dead as the deficit looked too large with such little time. However a second half strategy adjustment by Dinos head coach Robin Slot, in which he moved Miller from the midfield to the striker position, proved to be a stroke of genius when it mattered most.

Miller, who scored all three of her goals in the last 12 minutes, found her stride with the position change, and was very proud of her team's effort.

“We played with so much heart in the second half, and really came together as a team,” said the second year Calgary native. 

“We definitely came out slow, and had lots of jitters early,” Miller continued. “It's not easy to come back from that big of a deficit, but we knew what we had to do, and today we were able to do it. We're really proud of ourselves.”

Morena Ianniello (4th, Calgary) did wonders with her left foot in the late going, assisting on three of the final four goals. Her cross to Miller on the Dinos third goal was perhaps the highlight, as the perfect pass was redirected by Miller by way of the head in the 83rd minute, a goal which gave Calgary the momentum for good.

Regina got a spectacular effort from their rookie forward Meghan Cormier (Regina), who opened the scoring early for the Cougars. Cormier gave Dinos goaltender Kristen Barton (2nd, Calgary) fits in front of the net in the first half, as Barton gave up two goals from the young forward on only three shots. Along with the two goals, Cormier added an assist in the second half off of a hard free kick.

Cougar's goaltender Michelle Anderson (3rd, Regina) played admirably in net despite the Dinos second half outburst. Notching five saves in the second half, Anderson received little help from her offense in the late going, where the Dinos registered a shocking 16 shots in the second frame.

The Dinos scoring was rounded out by Lindsay Burrowes (4th, Calgary), and Jasmine Maser (1st, Calgary). Maser, who opened the scoring for the Dinos, can also be thanked for a spectacular pass on the Dinos tying goal, in which she laid out to save the ball from going out of bounds.

The Cougars received goals from Adrianna Bonutti (1st, Calgary) and Kimbi Wiebe (2nd, Swift Current) in the losing effort.

Both teams will play on Sunday, with the Cougars travelling south to meet the Lethbridge Pronghorns, while the Dinos welcome the Manitoba Bisons to the West Varsity Pitch.

-UC-