Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – This is a new one, even for veteran MacEwan women's soccer head coach Dean Cordeiro, who has been at the helm of the Griffins since 2013.
Sunday's match against the Mount Royal Cougars (1 p.m., Clarke Stadium, Canada West TV) will start in the 35th minute with MacEwan leading 2-0 – the exact point where it left off on Sept. 16 when the game was stopped due to the air quality index.
"I'll be honest, this is a first for me – to resume a game where a good portion's already been played," said Cordeiro. "But it is what it is. We'll be ready to go. When that whistle goes, we'll be up for it, but we're definitely going to treat it like it's a nil-nil game, not that we're up by two."
Hannah Harper scored in the 11th minute – launching a strike from distance over the head over MRU keeper Torrance Langdon before Grace Mwasalla fed Brenna Paquin for an insurance marker from the top of the box in the 30th minute.
They have approximately 55 minutes left to play on Sunday.
"I would say we're going to approach it like any other game, but it is a little bit different," said Cordeiro. "We've got to have that same mentality to go in there and take care of business. It's nice to have that two-goal cushion, for sure, but in 55 minutes, we're going to have to get the job done in that time, so we're happy with our overall performance."
The Griffins enter the contest with an 8-2-1 record, one point ahead of Calgary for top spot in the Prairie Division with a game in hand. MRU is the Prairie designate playing in the Pacific Division this season and are sitting in sixth at 4-3-3 after beating Victoria 2-0 on Saturday.
MacEwan went through a rough patch with two losses in three games prior to beating Alberta 2-1 last Sunday and putting in a solid week of training that has them trending upwards again.
"A full week of training is always nice," said Cordeiro. "We're excited. We'll be ready. We've really been working on a few different things. We like where the team's at as the calendar turns to October. We're up for it and we're excited for the opportunity to play again here on Thanksgiving Sunday."
