Horns edge U of A in regular season finale, now prepare for playoffs

By Lethbridge Herald on October 20, 2025.

Herald Photo by Justin Seward University of Lethbridge Pronghorns Bronson Schlichter , in black, had a corner battle with the University of Alberta's Jackson Belbin during Canada West men's soccer action on Sunday at U of L's Community Sports Stadium.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men’s soccer team  got an important 1-0 win over the University of Alberta Golden Bears on Sunday to solidify third place in their divison for  Canada West playoffs.

Jose Castaneda scored in the 71st minute for U of L.

“Yeah, massive,” said Chris McKaig, Horn men’s soccer head coach, on the importance of the win.

“The boys have shown so much character and resilience.  We were down a goal on Friday night,  (and) comeback, we’ve been in games down to 10 men and they’ve hung in there.  So, I had no doubt if we got one, I felt confident  that the boys could do that.”

Both the Horns and Golden Bears had to battle the blustery conditions all game long.

“Those conditions out  there were not easy to play football (in), but they battled for every blade of grass, every inch (and) every little bounce ” said McKaig.

“They fought for it so I love that.  I think we got to take that on to the playoffs because that’s our superpower.”

Kai Sakaguchi saw the wind playing a factor.

“The wind was pretty unpredictable (on Sunday) and the game was pretty hard  to settle down in that way, but I think from the get-go we had our energy,” said Sakaguchi.

“I think just from that first half, it was a different kind of vibe where we were like, OK we gotta lock in, we gotta get this game (and) the goals will come eventually.”

The Horn men’s soccer team will compete in a third consecutive postseason under a third different head coach.

“The people that are in the head office in the university, they encouraged me to work hard and  because of their commitment, I feel like I want to provide a good program for the university,” said McKaig, on leading the Horns to the playoffs.

The Horns  open up Canada West playoffs against the University of Victoria in their quarter-final match on Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Mount Royal University.

“Do all the things that we’ve done before, which is prepare ourselves to do the things that acquire no talent better than anybody else,” said McKaig, on preparation.

McKaig anticipates UVic to be a quality opponent that is  well coached and organized.

“We can get at them, I’m sure of it, with our togetherness and our ability in the attack,” said McKaig.

Sakaguchi doesn’t see preparation changing much from a normal day.

“We just put one step in front of the other, believe the coaching staff, go hard in training and just give it our best,” said Sakaguchi.

U of L tied MacEwan University 1-1 on Friday at home.

As for the Horn women’s soccer team, they ended their season with a 3-0 and a 6-2 loss at the University of Manitoba on Saturday and  Sunday respectively for a record of 0-13-1.

Rugby

The Pronghorn Women’s rugby 15s team fell 15-12 to the University of Alberta Pandas in the bronze medal match at the Canada West Championships on Sunday in Edmonton.