The WSU women’s rowing team matches up against Oregon State and Stanford for the second time this season on Saturday.

The Cougars faced the Beavers and the Cardinal on April 1, at the San Diego Crew Classic. The Beavers’ varsity eight boat beat the Cougars by less than half a second and the Cardinal defeated the Cougars by just more than five seconds at the regatta.

This weekend’s regatta will take place at Lowell Park in Eugene.

“[The Beavers are] really strong; they beat us for the first time in a long time at the San Diego Crew Classic,” head coach Jane LaRiviere said. “It was a super tight race.” The weather on the Snake River has hampered the Cougars for much of the spring, but the crew has finally been able to practice consistently in the past two weeks since the the Cougars’ last regatta – the Windermere Invitational on April 15. LaRiviere said the additional practice has given the crew increased confidence and optimism.

“It’s been quite a bit of an up-and-down season,” LaRiviere said. “I still have faith in our team.” Senior rower Sarah Lende said the two-week break helped the women because it allowed them to train harder than they normally could while rowing every weekend.

“Hopefully we’ll see the hard work pay off,” Lende said.

After the regatta in Oregon, the Cougars will look forward to the Pac-10 Championships, on May 13 in Gold River, Calif. LaRiviere said the team isn’t quite ready for the tournament, but also said they don’t need to be ready yet.

“It’d be nice to get a great race under our belts before we head off to Pac-10s,” LaRiviere said.

LaRiviere said every team matures at a different pace through the season and the Cougars are still on pace to perform well. The varsity eight boat spent much of the break working on the middle portion of the race to put the boat in a better position to finish competitively.

Lende said the team made adjustments, including switched boat seedings and lineups, hoping to improve the team’s rhythm.

She said the changes the Cougars have made since the San Diego Crew Classic should give them a good chance to beat the Beavers and Cardinal this time.

“I think it’s very, very important that we take this opportunity and make the most of it,” LaRiviere said. “It has to be a good race.”