The Mount Royal University Cougars picked up a split in their weekend series against the Winnipeg Wesmen after posting a hard fought 2-1 victory Saturday night in windy Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Winnipeg won the series opener Friday night by a 1-0 margin. The Cougars with the win now sit with a record of 1-4-1 while the Wesmen with the loss fall to 2-5-1.

First year striker Kyle Rushton scord both goals for the Cougars. Amos Ganyea hit the scoresheet for the Wesmen.

The teams had trouble in the opening portion of the game with the very windy conditions at the Winniupeg Soccer Complex. Neither team was able to sustain any offensive pressure in the early stages.

Rushton got the Cougars on the scoreboard in the 23rd minute taking a feed from Matt Tarko and beat Wesmen goalkeeper Joshua Partaker to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead.

The hometown Wesmen drew even a few minutes later. Amos Ganyea took a long feed from Richie Rundle and raced in beating Cougar goalkeeper Kamil Zielinski wikth a perfect shot to make the score 1-1.

The teams went into the halftime break dead even at 1-1.

In the 65th minute Rushton gave the Cougars the lead back for good, scoring his second of the game and third of the season to make the score 2-1.

Winnipeg made several substitutions late in the contest and managed to get some scoring chances but were unable to score any more in the contest.

Zielinski made eight saves for the Cougars while Partaker made three saves for the Wesmen.

Mount Royal will play host to Lethbridge next weekend while Winnipeg will have a bye. The Wesmen will be in action on October 11-12 in Saskatchewan.