CALGARY - It's an all-Alberta docket on the West Varsity Soccer Pitch this weekend as the Dinos play host to Alberta, Lethbridge, and the newest member of the conference - Mount Royal.

The Dinos men play their annual home-and-home series with the Lethbridge Pronghorns beginning Saturday down south and concluding Sunday at home. Meanwhile, the Dinos women host both their oldest and newest rivals: Saturday, the Alberta Pandas are in town, while the crosstown battle against the Mount Royal University Cougars will officially kick off Sunday afternoon.

Sunday's game will be historic for many reasons – for the Cougars, it will be their first-ever Canada West women's soccer game in Calgary, and it will also mark the first regular season game in any sport between the University of Calgary and Mount Royal University.

It was a rough welcome to Canada West for the Cougars, who dropped 3-0 and 5-0 games at UFV and Victoria, respectively, last week in B.C.

While that match is on the horizon, Saturday's contest with Alberta is up first. The Pandas are the seventh-ranked team in the nation, coming into the weekend with a 1-0-1 record after drawing 1-1 with the Vikes in Victoria and then defeating Fraser Valley 2-1 last weekend to open the season. In action between the Dinos and Pandas last season, Alberta won both contests by 4-1 and 3-0 scores.

The Dinos enter the weekend after a tough opening to the season which saw them drop 5-1 and 6-1 decisions to UBC and Trinity Western, respectively, a week ago. Second-year head coach Matt Shepherd is fielding a young team that was out-experienced in many ways last weekend, but he was pleased with his team's effort despite the scores.

“I'm very happy with the progress being shown by the new recruits and the squad overall,” said Shepherd. “With more application to our defending, we will be great improvers this season.”

The Dinos' roster includes no fewer than 13 players in their first year of eligibility. One of those, midfielder Maddie Lee, scored the team's first goal of the season in the 76th minute against UBC, while Kiyomi McInnes notched Calgary's tally against Trinity Western.

In men's action, the Dinos fell 3-0 to UBC last Friday night before rebounding to take a point off Trinity Western, finishing with a 1-1 draw against the always-tough Spartans – matching their score from the 2011 season.

The two goals in Saturday's game came just 90 seconds apart in the first five minutes of the second half. The Dinos struck first with Robin Whittaker, a halftime sub, making an immediate impact by ripping a shot from 20 yards out. Just moments later, however, the Spartans responded to knot the game up, and 1-1 stood as the final score.

The Dinos captured both ends of the home-and-home series with Lethbridge last season by 2-1 and 1-0 scores and will look to continue their success against their southern Alberta rivals. Lethbridge's last win over the Dinos came way back on Oct. 4, 2009 in a 3-2 win at home.

The Horns played the opposite schedule to the Dinos last week, falling 2-0 at Trinity Western before getting blown out 8-0 at UBC.

Across the board, Canada West has a vastly different look to it this season with the additions of Mount Royal, UNBC, and Winnipeg to both the men's and women's leagues. On the men's side, the league now features two divisions and a 15-game schedule, up from the previous 14 games. The Dinos are part of the Prairie Division that also features Lethbridge, Alberta, Mount Royal, Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg. The top three teams in each division make the playoffs, a 'Final Six' format hosted by the highest seed.

In women's soccer, the top eight teams after 12 games qualify for a two-weekend playoff structure. The league is set up as one division with all 13 teams, and each team plays every other squad once during the season.

Both Dinos teams remain at home next weekend, hosting Victoria and Fraser Valley Sept. 22-23.