Left: Local hip-hop artist Rey Rose Hope performed to the crowd at Wreckonciliation.
Bottom right: CBC Indigenous associate producer Lenard Monkman was one of the main organizers behind Sunday's event.
Pulling down the storm flags
Bisons dominate Thunderbirds in statement win, get back to .500
JASON PCHAJEK, STAFF
PHOTO BY DAVE MAHUSSIER
Athunderstorm may have been in the forecast Saturday, but none arrived in Winnipeg.
This quiet sky turned out to be a sign for the day’s Canada West football action, as the visiting University of British Columbia Thunderbirds were silenced by a 37-19 U of M Bisons win.
Typically after a statement win, Bisons head coach Brian Dobie would be glowing about his club’s
effort, but instead he was lamenting the score that could have been.
“I just feel somewhat frustrated,” Dobie said.
“Because we won the game and all that, but we won very ugly and sloppily, and we didn’t finish — we kept talking about finishing, and we just didn’t finish […] we left so many points on the board.”
Manitoba’s win was propelled by a strong showing with its defence
crushing the UBC offence into submission. Nick Thomas led the way with seven tackles on the night, and the Bisons combined for three interceptions.
“I thought our defence had an outstanding game,” Dobie said.
“We gave up that [UBC] touchdown on a third and one on an unusual play — and it still counts — what else did the defence give up? No, I’m not being sarcastic, I don’t think they gave anything up.”
The herd got started quick, getting into the UBC red zone where Des Catellier found Macho Bockru with a pass less than two minutes into the game. Matt Riley knocked down the conversion for the 7-0 Manitoba lead.
The Thunderbirds defence forced a Bisons safety to get UBC on the board down 7-2, but on the other side of the ball they were far less successful.
Meanwhile, the herd went to work.
Riley put a 38-yard kick through the uprights to make it 10-2 Manitoba, and on the next UBC drive Arjay Shelley picked off a pass for a pick-six. Shelley tore down the field 44 yards for the touchdown, with a Riley conversion to make it 17-2 Bisons at the end of the opening quarter.
“I thought Arjay played great,” Dobie said.
“I mean you’re seeing him make
plays and all that but nobody did anything against him. He took things away and he made some great plays — the pick-six obviously was huge.”
Riley added another field goal to
“He took things away and he made some great plays — the pick-six obviously was huge” — Brian Dobie, Bisons men’s football head coach
make it 20-2 Bisons in the second quarter before the Thunderbirds responded. Daniel Appiah collected a Riley punt and cut his way through the Bisons for an 88-yard rushing touchdown. A successful conversion by Garrin McDonnell made it 20-9 Bisons in the second quarter.
McDonnell added another field goal to draw UBC closer, but the Bisons converted in the red zone again off a Jonathan Remple touchdown to head into half time up 27-12.
The offence-heavy first half gave way to a quiet third quarter where the herd locked UBC into its own end of the field.
When it rains, it pours, even indoors
The silence gave way to cheers as Bockru pulled down a 44-yard pass from Catellier to get the Bisons in scoring position once again.
Brandon O’Connor made the short yardage score and Riley the conversion to make it 34-12 Manitoba with 22 seconds left in the third quarter.
Jacob Patten picked up a 33-yard rushing touchdown early in the fourth quarter for the Thunderbirds, Riley added another field goal late and Manitoba took home the 37-19 victory.
Following Manitoba’s heartbreaking Sept. 13 loss to the University of Alberta Golden Bears, getting back in the win column was a good reset for Dobie and the herd.
“We lost a really, really emotionally tough game in Alberta,” Dobie said.
“We addressed it through the week in practice, not by talking about it but by putting [the players] in pressure situations […] and they responded and they responded well coming out of the gates.”
With the win the Bisons improve to 2-2 on the season and sit in a tie for third in the Canada West standings.
The Bisons will be back in action Sept. 28 at 2 p.m. CDT to host the University of Regina Rams at IG Field.
Young, Davis and Tsai continue torrid scoring paces, herd picks up pair of wins
JASON PCHAJEK, STAFF
W
ith thunderclouds rumbling outside, the U of M Bisons women’s soccer team headed inside to the Winnipeg Soccer Federation South Complex for a pair of games against a pair of basement-dwelling Pacific Coast opponents this weekend. The change in venue did nothing to throw off the herd as Manitoba picked up a weekend sweep.
Friday
On a dark and stormy Friday night the Bisons shone in a 4-0 win over the visiting Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack.
Two quick markers from Nicole Davis were all the Bisons needed to put TRU on its heels, and goals by Stefanie Young and Jessica Tsai buried the Wolfpack who could not respond.
Young had a monster game for the herd, setting up both Davis goals to go along with her own.
Both sides traded chances throughout the first half, until Davis turned on the jets to burn the Wolfpack in her wake. Davis got a touch in transition, knifing the ball past a defender then beating her with speed.
The quick midfielder corralled the
ball and tapped it past TRU keeper Danielle Robertson for a 1-0 Bisons lead in the 12th minute.
Davis was moved up into an attacking midfield position for the weekend, a decision Bisons head coach Vanessa Martinez Lagunas used for a more offence-focused approach.
“She was dangerous the whole match,” Martinez Lagunas said.
“We wanted her to get that hat trick — that’s why she came back into the game — and she almost [got it], and I’m so proud of her.”
Also moved forward in the formation was defender Young, who Martinez Lagunas elected to play just behind the forwards in a roving position.
“We did that because we wanted more attack, more power,” Martinez Lagunas said.
Martinez Lagunas credited Young’s versatility and determination, adding the defender’s competitiveness is a boon because “she makes it contagious to the whole team, and that’s what we need.”
This increased offensive role for both Davis and Young paid dividends for the herd in the 27th minute as Young chipped the ball over the TRU
defence to a streaking Davis, and she found twine for a 2-0 Manitoba lead.
Young came close to snagging a marker of her own late in the half, as she sent a heavy shot from centre field on goal. Robertson knocked down the shot to keep her club close and the two sides went into halftime with the herd up 2-0.
“I was really waiting for that to happen and I’m glad it did on my birthday, it’s a good day” — Stefanie Young, Bisons women’s soccer defender
After Tsai made it 3-0 Manitoba in the second half, Young got her goal. She unleashed another cannon from midfield and went bar down on Robertson for the goal and 4-0 Bisons lead.
Davis nearly completed the hat trick late, but the TRU keeper got
enough on it to deflect the chance away and the Bisons took home the 4-0 win.
Saturday
With a win driven by high-powered offence in its pocket, Manitoba proved wins in tight games were just as possible Saturday with a 1-0 win in a defensive battle with the University of British Columbia Okanagan Heat.
Saturday’s game was a quiet affair in the first half, with both sides trading chances and testing more than attacking.
Manitoba’s best chance of the opening 45 came off the foot of Young, looking for her second goal of the weekend. A through ball was sent her way and Young drove a shot toward the goal, just clearing over the crossbar.
Young’s determination paid off in added time of the first half as she picked up the ball off a corner kick and buried it with a header to break the scoreless tie, sending the two sides into halftime at 1-0 Manitoba.
The goal was made even sweeter by the fact Young celebrated her birthday Saturday.
“It was so great,” Young said.
“It was one of my first real header
goals too. I was really waiting for that to happen and I’m glad it did on my birthday, it was a good day.”
With the offensive threat of the Bisons becoming known the Heat switched its approach in the second half.
A tighter, collapsing defensive style was used to limit Manitoba’s ball movement and isolate players like Young and Hailey Lavarias.
UBCO was “very organized,” Martinez Lagunas said.
“It was a very tactical game, […] both coaches made tactical moves and it was a really good game.”
Manitoba struggled to break free but UBCO had just as much trouble getting shots toward Anna Biebrich in the Bisons goal.
Young had a late header go wide but her first half goal was all Manitoba needed to pick up the win and get back to .500 on the season at 3-3.
The Bisons head back out on the road next week for a pair of games in Saskatchewan. Game one is Sept. 28 at 1 p.m. CDT against the University of Regina Cougars, followed by a game against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies the next day at 3 p.m. CDT.