School Name Goes Here

Maddie Sonea and Adrianna Bonutti didn't let the standings scare them away.

Both are rookies with the University of Regina Cougars women's soccer team who jumped at the chance to help a team that has not won a regular-season game since Sept. 30, 2006.

"They were looking for people who wanted to work hard and make the team better so that was an opportunity to prove myself," said Bonutti, a Calgary product. "The previous records didn't bring me here, but it's something to work at. I definitely love a challenge."

The Cougars will look to end their winless streak in the Canada West season-opening weekend with games on Saturday and Sunday against the host Calgary Dinos and Lethbridge Pronghorns, respectively.

Just the fact that Sonea, who hails from Pitt Meadows, B.C., and Bonutti are in Regina is a testament to the team's improvement through the years. They are two of only three players from outside the province on the squad, the other being second-year goalkeeper Linsay Barbier, who is from Yellowknife.

Sonea was very close to committing to Memorial University in St. John's, N.L., and also had opportunities at the University of Victoria and UBC-Okanagan.

Memorial was 9-2-2 in the Atlantic University Sport last season while UVic won the Canada West title and finished fourth nationally.

"This team was so welcoming from the start and Bob (Maltman, the head coach) seemed like a good coach -- which he is -- and that drew me in," said Sonea, a pre-med student who was first exposed to the U of R campus during a conference in February.

Bonutti, meanwhile, could have gone the college route in B.C. or played volleyball in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference back home.

"Coming here in March for a prospects camp, it was a good atmosphere so I thought I could do well and grow here," said Bonutti.

Their arrival in Regina is met with some expectation to perform this season along with the other rookies on the Cougars' roster.

Bonutti, a forward, is to be relied upon to put a few goals in the opposition's net along with fellow rookie Meagan Cormier, a Regina product.

Sonea will see time in the midfield with Cormier and Moose Jaw's Jessica Meyer while the fifth rookie, Keisha Riddell of Regina, will patrol the back end. Maltman expects two other rookies -- defender Erin Payette and keeper Stephanie Possberg -- to redshirt.

"The five of them are coming in with a lot of exuberance -- they're maybe going to get their eyes opened a little bit -- and they've played against players maybe a few years older than them (in a pre-season tournament) and didn't skip a beat," said Maltman.

And, Maltman hopes, the import rookies will be in it for the long haul. They have, after all, experienced a few days of a Saskatchewan winter.

"There's definitely no chinooks here," Bonutti admitted with a laugh. "The minus 40 that welcomed me here wasn't exactly what drew me in."

"I can handle that (cold)," Sonea added chuckling. "We'll see what I say when I've been here the whole winter."