U of L women’s team get first win of championships

By Lethbridge Herald on February 25, 2025.

Herald Photo by Justin Seward University of Lethbridge Pronghorns third Elspeth Cooper celebrates after the team hit a sixth-end hammer for three points against the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack during the USports/ CCAA Curling Canada Curling Championships on Tuesday at Lethbridge Curling Club.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns women’s curling team split both of their games on the second day of the 2025 U SPORTS/CCAA Curling Canada Curling Championships at Lethbridge Curling Club on Tuesday.

The Horns opened the day with a 6-5 win over St. Francis Xavier University.

“I thought we definitely threw to the tolerance of the shot, which was really important. We missed the right way,”

said U of L women’s skip Cameron Kuzma.

“We also communicated really well and managed shots. We brought down our weight, so we stuck around, and I think we just came together as a team and we were really focused.”

The Horns weren’t able to follow that win up, however,  in the afternoon game as they lost 10-4 to the Thompson River Wolfpack.

“Started out kind of rough,” said Kuzma.

“They took four in the first end. That’s always a little bit tricky to come back (from) after because it just feels like you’re defeated already. But there’s still a lot of game left, so we tried our best to keep playing our best. Unfortunately, we were just on the wrong inch of the shots and yeah we couldn’t quite get that today.”

The Horn women’s curlers have a record of 1-2 and play Guelph this morning at 8:30 a.m. and Dalhousie at 4:30 p.m.

The Pronghorn men headed into their Tuesday evening match with an 0-2 record after a 7-1 defeat at the hands of the University of Calgary Dinos earlier on Tuesday and a 7-4 loss to the Memorial University Seahawks on Monday evening.

“We had a good start in our first end and unfortunately, as the end turned around, missed a shot in the end and it kind of turned it around and then they took advantage,” said Samuel Nygaard, U of L men’s skip, after the U of C loss.

“From there, we were in an uphill battle the rest of the game and showed we took some chances and got caught.”

Nygaard thought U of C managed their rocks well and the result was forced shots and the struggle of keeping the rocks in play by the Horns.

“Unfortunately, we just weren’t able to keep all of our rocks in play and manage the scoreboard from where we were,” said Nygaard.

“In doing so, we had to take a few chances, which led to them continuing to score one or two on us because we were trying to get a big end of three to get back in the game.”

Nygaard admits it’s an uphill climb now with a record of 0-2.

“The whole week in general I believe (is) gonna be tough for us,” said Nygaard.

“We just gotta keep taking it one game at a time and hopefully we pull out a couple wins along the way and find (ourselves ) in contention on Friday.”

The Horns were looking for their first win of the championship when they faced the Wilfred Laurier Golden Hawks on Tuesday night.

They  face Carleton at 12:30 p.m. and New Brunswick at 4:30 p.m. today.