Eoin Colquhoun, Pronghorn Athletics

Lethbridge – Reaching the midpoint of the 2017 season, the Lethbridge Pronghorn women's soccer team earned a crucial three points with a 1-0 hard fought win over the Winnipeg Wesmen.

Heading into the weekend, the Pronghorns sat in fifth place in the Prairie Division but were only three points ahead of the Wesmen and the Manitoba Bisons. With the top six teams qualifying for the playoffs it was imperative to keep the Wesmen below them in the standings.

With the win, the Pronghorns move to 500 on the season with a 3-3-1 record and are now six points clear of the Wesmen. Following a 0-0 tie in Calgary with the Calgary Dinos, Pronghorn move past the Dinos into fourth and the Bisons now fall five points back of the Pronghorns but will come to Lethbridge tomorrow to face the Pronghorns. The loss drops the Wesmen's record to 1-5-1.

With the wind gusting heavily at times, a premium was placed on short precision passing and throughout the opening 45 minutes neither team's defence would allow much in terms of chances. Winnipeg attempted five shots with two on goal, while the Pronghorns only had three shot attempts and Kayla Blacquiere's long range shot was the lone one that forced a save from Wesmen keeper Emma Dutiaume.

Winnipeg's Shae-Lynn Dodds had the best chance for either team in the opening half, beating a Pronghorn to a loose ball in the box, but 'Horns keeper Micaela Stone made the point-blank save.

After a relatively uneventful opening half, the Pronghorns opened the scoring only six minutes into the second half. 'Horns freshman Brittney Brown sprung Lindsay Amatto with a through-ball and Amatto made no mistake slipping the ball past Winnipeg's keeper Emma Dutiaume for her team-leading fourth of the season.

The Pronghorns had the better of the ball possession following the game opening, leading to three corner kicks in quick succession, but they were unable to capitalize on the chance to extend the lead.

With 20 minutes left, Wesmen sub Nicole Seavers came close to tying the game with a close range shot but Stone made a solid reaction save to keep her team up a goal. Stone followed that save up with another great save in the final four minutes off the foot of Kallee Oliveira.

In the final minute, Nikki Furukawa nearly sealed it for the Pronghorns, breaking in all alone on Dutiaume, but Dutiaume came off her line to make a quality diving save to keep her team's hopes alive.  However, the Wesmen were unable to generate a quality scoring chance through full time or injury time.

Micaela Stone finished with six saves to earn her third shutout of the season. Her counterpart Emma Dutiaume made four saves in the loss.

The Pronghorns remain at home tomorrow, hosting the Manitoba Bisons in another game with playoff implications on the line. Kick-off is slated for 12:00. The Wesmen will travel to Calgary to face the Calgary Dinos.