CALGARY – Fifth-year midfielder Isabella DiPalma scored two goals in a span of just over three minutes of play Saturday night to lead the Calgary Dinos women's soccer team to a 2-0 victory over the Manitoba Bisons.

With the win, third-ranked Calgary remains undefeated at 9-0-1 on the year, while Manitoba drops to 0-9-1.

The first of the two goals came after a stalemate of a first half, finally making a mark on the scoreboard in the 60th minute at McMahon Stadium, with the second coming at the 63:04 mark, continuing a 10-game hot streak for the Dinos.

"It feels great. We had been working towards it for so long and it was just nice to get that edge in such a close game, so I'm just happy my team put it on a platter for me," DiPalma said.

With many opportunities in the first half, the Dinos spent a lot of time in the offensive zone, out-shooting the Bisons 13-1, but had no luck finishing it off at the net. In the 44th minute, the home team thought they notched one, but it was called back due to being offside. To add to that, Bisons' goaltender Holly Dyker had a few great saves to keep the home team at bay.

"We knew we had to be patient," said Dinos head coach Diogo Raposo. "Obviously, they play a back five. They're disciplined in the shape, and credit to them, they made it really difficult. We probably want some of those chances back, and we probably should have scored on one of those to make the game a little bit easier."

Added DiPalma, "It was hard to keep a positive mindset when we weren't really getting the results, but we knew that it was going to come. There was no doubt, we just had to be patient, and when one came, we knew that others would come after that."

It was at the 59:49 mark where DiPalma struck the ball past Dyker and finally broke through the goal drought. A corner kick from Kaleigh Major would start the exchange, with DiPalma sticking her head above the defense and directing the ball into the netting.

Just three minutes and 15 seconds later came the second rocket of the night to cap off the final 2-0 score, again off DiPalma's forehead. A nice release from Jaden Tomaszewski on the left side of the pitch sent one towards the front of the net where DiPalma was waiting in the same spot as before, taking the same approach to gain another for the Scarlett & Gold.

"We talked about being adaptable and in the locker room and changing a little bit of the style and how we played because it couldn't be the same thing over and over, it's just going to be insanity from that point of view," Raposo said. "It paid off. It's not always going to pay off. We will try to always change things, but once we got the first one, then we could breathe, which is what we wanted, and then we got the second one just from confidence."

The Dinos will challenge the Saskatchewan Huskies on Oct. 4 with a noon kick off at the Calgary Soccer Centre, followed by a battle against the Regina Cougars Oct. 5 at noon at McMahon Stadium. 

"Sask is a really good opponent," Raposo stated. "They'll be difficult, they need the points, so they're really, really hungry."

"Playing against the good teams in the league is always motivating," DiPalma commented. "It adds that little bit of extra excitement, and we're just excited to get more results against good teams that we know will give us some competition."

The Bisons will travel to the University of Alberta to face the Pandas Oct. 4 and 5.

-UC-