Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Bye weeks are a unique anomaly in the Canada West women's soccer ranks this season as teams play out a regional regular season schedule.
If you're going to have a weekend off, however, the one the MacEwan Griffins had on Oct. 2-3 was perfect timing – right in the middle of the season – even if the experience was a little different for a team not used to waiting two weeks in between games.
"When you're in such a routine, you don't want to lose momentum," said head coach Dean Cordeiro, whose 5-1-0 squad entered the bye week on a four-game winning streak. "You're excited for the next games and then you have to wait two weeks for them. We're just happy to be back playing."
On the plus side, the bye week allowed time for some players to rest nagging injuries as the team gets set to head to Calgary for a pair of games at Mount Royal University on Saturday and Sunday (both 1 p.m., Canada West TV presented by Co-op).
"We don't normally have the luxury to give some people more maintenance days to get feeling as close to 100 per cent as possible," said Cordeiro. "The bye week definitely allowed us to do that, so we'll use it to our advantage and hopefully have a little bit more jump in our game this weekend."
The Griffins have enjoyed an 8-0-2 record against MRU in Canada West regular season competition since entering the conference in 2014 and are a clean 6-0-0 on the Cougars' field, including posting a 2-0 victory over them there last month.
"It's always been a place we've performed very well," said Cordeiro. "Being on the road, that typically wouldn't be the case, but for whatever reason – it's a quality facility, quality pitch and the girls just rise to the occasion."
The Griffins have been ranked in the U SPORTS top-10 for the past three weeks, rising as high as matching a program-best seventh on Sept. 28. They're currently ranked eighth.
As they push to lock up a playoff spot and possibly secure first place in the Central Division, Cordeiro notes it's always about the process.
"We're just going to focus on what we do well, what we need to do and execute our game plan," he said. "We're a very confident group. We feel like we've been progressing each week and we're trending upward. The team is getting stronger and stronger."
The 3-4-1 Cougars will likely be a desperate team as they fight to remain ahead of Alberta (3-5-0) and the fourth seed in the West Division (currently 1-6-1 UNBC) for a wild card playoff spot.
"Mount Royal's a good program and I feel like they're going to be up for it," said Cordeiro. "Everybody's jockeying for position in the table, in regards to standings and playoffs. It's getting to the point in the season where teams are running out of time.
"We're going to do what we need to do and focus on us, and look to get the job done. That's our expectation."
