Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – The positives are mounting for the MacEwan Griffins women's soccer team.
They've clinched a Canada West playoff berth … and there's four games left.
They've already scored the most goals by a Griffins women's soccer team in the past three years … and there's four games left.
They're still alive for top spot in the Pacific Division … with four games left.
Two of those contests will happen this weekend when the Griffins visit Lethbridge (1-8-1) on Saturday (12 p.m., Canada West TV) and Calgary (9-1-0) on Sunday (12 p.m., no broadcast, but follow live stats here).
"It's the final home stretch now, if you will," said head coach Dean Cordeiro. "There's four games remaining. There's much more at stake because there's less ground to make up if you do make mistakes. It's a matter of trying to secure your spot come playoffs.
"This week will present two different challenges," he continued. "Lethbridge is a very difficult team to play against and they're much better at home. They do a really good job in their home stadium and they're fighting for a playoff berth as well, so they're going to be hungry to earn some points.
"The next day we've got Calgary, who are on a nine-game winning streak – arguably the hottest team in the conference. They're vying for top of the Prairie Division and are looking to host. It's going to be a very difficult weekend, for sure."
Considering Lethbridge has won just once and Calgary hasn't lost since their first game of the season on Sept. 8, the danger will be in looking past Game 1 of the weekend. That would be a mistake, though – one the Griffins don't plan to make.
"Everything right now is about Lethbridge, our first game, and then we'll quickly switch gears," said Cordeiro, who has consistently adopted a one-game-at-a-time approach.
"You've got to quickly be able to switch gears and get ready for that next game. It's not an ideal situation because Calgary's one of the top teams. We're going to have to get together and break down what we can in a short period of time for that Sunday match."
Former MacEwan goalkeeper coach Diogo Raposo, who now holds that position and an assistant coach role with the Dinos, will be on the opposite sideline for a team that has allowed just two goals against all season and has wins over Pacific Division powers UBC and Victoria.
They're the last elite test of the season for the Griffins, who trail Trinity Western by five points and UBC by two in the race for the top of the Pacific.
TWU has the toughest schedule with remaining games against four teams in the U SPORTS top 10 or honourable mention list – Alberta, Mount Royal, UBC and Victoria, while the Thunderbirds have winnable contests against Saskatchewan and Regina this weekend before finishing with TWU and UFV.
The Griffins close out the season with home games against UBC-Okanagan (2-6-2) and Thompson Rivers (2-7-1) – two teams way below them in the standings but who both gave them some trouble earlier in the campaign (UBCO is one of only two teams to beat MacEwan this season).
"From a staff point of view, we're getting better every week," said Cordeiro. "We're very happy with where the team is at currently. After dropping some points in the first two weekends that we wouldn't have liked to, we've been on a nice little run of late.
"It's all about timing. It's about how you're playing going into playoffs. I think these next couple weeks will really help position ourselves where we need to be when everything's at stake."
The top two seeds in the Pacific Division will host the opening weekend of playoffs Oct. 26-28, while Seeds 3 and 4 will travel to the homes of the top two Prairie Division teams.
The highest remaining Pacific seed after that will host the Canada West Final Four.