2012 CIS womenÕs rugby championship: pools & schedule announced

OTTAWA (CIS) – The pools and schedule were announced on Sunday for the 2012 Canadian Interuniversity Sport women’s rugby championship set to get under way later this week in Antigonish, N.S.

The six-team tournament, hosted for the first time by St. Francis Xavier University, kicks off on Thursday and concludes next Sunday with the gold-medal final scheduled for 2 p.m. Atlantic Time. All nine games from the tourney will be webcast live on CIS-SIC.tv.

Competing for the Monilex Trophy at Oland Stadium will be the defending national champion Guelph Gryphons (OUA champions), the host StFX X-Women (AUS champions), as well as the Alberta Pandas (Canada West champions), Concordia Stingers (RSEQ champions), Queen’s Gaels (OUA finalists) and Acadia Axewomen (AUS finalists).  

Guelph will compete with Alberta and Acadia in Pool A in the preliminary round and is set to open its title defence Thursday at 10:30 a.m. against the Axewomen. Alberta will face the losers of the opening-day match-up on Friday and the winners on Saturday.

In Pool B, StFX and Queen’s face off Thursday at 1:30 p.m. Concordia takes on the losers on Friday and the winners on Saturday.

The first-place finishers in groups A and B advance to the gold-medal final. The second-place teams will battle for CIS bronze, while the last-place finishers play for fifth position.

Guelph captured the second Monilex Trophy in school history a year ago with an impressive 28-0 win over StFX in the CIS title match. The Gryphons have resumed their domination this season outscoring their OUA rivals 579 to 14 en route to a 9-0 overall record and the conference title. They got all they could handle from Queen’s in Saturday’s OUA final however, taking the hard-fought battle by a 10-6 score.

StFX, the favourite to come out of Pool B in front of its fans, is looking to reach the national final for a fifth straight year and to add a third CIS banner to its collection. The X-Women dominated their AUS opponents by a mindboggling 821-6 in 10 contests this fall, including a 72-0 shutout victory over Acadia in Sunday’s conference final.

Alberta has won five CIS titles over the years but will compete for the Monilex Trophy for the first time since 2008. Concordia, Queen’s and Acadia are all looking for their first triumph on the national stage.

Official championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wrugby/index    
 
NOTE: The 2012 CIS individual award winners and all-Canadian teams will be announced on Wednesday... A complete championship preview will follow on Tuesday...

POOLS

Pool A
Guelph Gryphons (OUA champions: 6-0 regular season / 3-0 playoffs)
Alberta Pandas (Canada West champions: 4-0 regular season / 2-0 playoffs)
Acadia Axewomen (AUS finalists: 5-3 regular season / 1-1 playoffs)

Pool B
StFX X-Women (AUS champions: 8-0 regular season / 2-0 playoffs)
Concordia Stingers (RSEQ champions: 6-1 regular season / 2-0 playoffs)
Queen’s Gaels (OUA finalists: 6-0 regular season / 2-1 playoffs)

CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE (all times ATLANTIC TIME)

Wednesday, Oct. 31
18:30 All-Canadian Awards Banquet (StFX Bloomfield Centre – MacKay Room)

Thursday, Nov. 1
10:30 Pool A: Guelph vs. Acadia (CIS-SIC.tv webcast)
13:30 Pool B: StFX vs. Queen’s (CIS-SIC.tv webcast)

Friday, Nov. 2
10:30 Pool A: Loser Pool A #1 vs. Alberta (CIS-SIC.tv webcast)
13:30 Pool B: Loser Pool B #1 vs. Concordia (CIS-SIC.tv webcast)

Saturday, Nov. 3
10:30 Pool A: Winner Pool A #1 vs. Alberta (CIS-SIC.tv webcast)
13:30 Pool B: Winner Pool B #1 vs. Concordia (CIS-SIC.tv webcast)

Sunday, Nov. 4
10:00 Fifth place: 3rd place Pool A vs. 3rd place Pool B (CIS-SIC.tv webcast)
12:00 Bronze medal: 2nd place Pool A vs. 2nd place Pool B (CIS-SIC.tv webcast)
14:00 Championship final: 1st place Pool A vs. 1st place Pool B (CIS-SIC.tv webcast)

About Canadian Interuniversity Sport

Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Every year, 11,000 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 54 universities and four regional associations vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca or follow us on:

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