The MacEwan Griffins snuffed the UFV Cascades' three-game unbeaten streak, prevailing 2-0 at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton on Saturday afternoon.

The Prairie Division-leading Griffins (4-0-1) had a strong first half, highlighted by goals from Samantha Gouveia and Meagan Lemoine, and they kept the Cascades (2-2-1) at bay down the stretch.

The UFV side wraps up its Edmonton road swing Sunday at the Alberta Pandas (11 a.m. PT, CanadaWest.tv).

"It's a good learning opportunity," Cascades head coach Rob Giesbrecht said afterward. "We played against a veteran team that does the little things in the game really well. They're good on set pieces and managed the game well. We were naive at times and lacked the strength and physical maturity to win some of those battles.

"One of the telling things was we were too passive in our attack, and maybe that's to our opponent's credit. But that's one area we could have stepped up and been more effective."
The Griffins broke the ice in the 11th minute off a long free kick, as Gouveia rose to head the ball inside the far post.

The hosts doubled the lead in the 45th minute – Lemoine took advantage of a Cascades turnover and sprinted back the other direction, firing a rising shot from the top of the box that UFV goalkeeper Andrea Perkovic was able to get her fingertips on, but not enough to tip it over the bar.

The Cascades had a couple of promising forays late in the second half. Off Jenna Mele's cross, Brittney Zacharuk and Bryana Buttar had cracks at the ball in the box, but MacEwan keeper Emily Burns was there to scoop the ball up and end the threat.

Centre back Taylor Nekic was the Cascades' game MVP selection, and Gouveia was the Griffins' pick.

"We gave them too many opportunities early and looks at our goal from dead balls," said Giesbrecht. "Once we were down a couple goals, it was really tough to get going. The second half had absolutely no flow to it. It was just stop-start, stop-start. It was frustrating. We took a few knocks as well, which made it tough."

- with files from Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics