X-Women to open against Queen's at CIS soccer championship

2009 CIS women’s soccer championship
Brackets and schedule announced
Courtesy Canadian Interunivrsity Sport

OTTAWA (CIS) – The Trinity Western Spartans will go for a second straight Gladys Bean Memorial trophy later this week when the University of Toronto hosts the 2009 CIS women’s soccer championship, from Nov. 12-15.

The national tournament will be held at the U of T for the first time since women’s soccer was added to the CIS program in 1987 and returns to the province of Ontario for the first time since 2001, when Carleton hosted the competition in the nation’s capital.

The eight-team, single-elimination championship gets under way Thursday with the quarterfinal round. The semi-finals follow on Saturday, while the bronze-medal game and national final are set for Sunday at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively.

SSN Canada will have live webcasts of all main-bracket duels (www.ssncanada.ca or www.cis-sic.ca). 

The Canada West champion Spartans, who claimed the second CIS banner in team history a year ago with a 1-0 gold-medal win over Brock, are one of only two teams to return from the 2008 tournament, along with the QSSF champion Montreal Carabins.

Joining the two returnees in Toronto will be the AUS champion St. Francis Xavier X-Women, OUA champion York Lions, Canada West finalist UBC Thunderbirds, AUS finalist UPEI Panthers, OUA finalist Queen’s Gaels, as well as the championship host Varsity Blues. 

Besides Trinity Western, only UBC and Queen’s have hoisted the Gladys Bean trophy in the past. The T-Birds hold the all-time record of five CIS titles - their most recent coming in 2006, while the Gaels were the second recipients in history back in 1988.

The Spartans begin their title defence against UPEI Thursday at 1:30 p.m., in the second quarterfinal. The other first-round match-ups will see Queen’s face StFX at 11 a.m., York battle UBC at 3:30 p.m., and Montreal square off against host Toronto at 6:30 p.m.

For all the info on the 2009 CIS women’s soccer championship, visit: www.cis-sic.ca .

Note: a complete championship preview will follow on Tuesday.

PARTICIPATING TEAMS

Trinity Western Spartans (CWUAA champions / 11-2-1 regular season, 2-0 playoffs)
York Lions (OUA champions / 11-2-1 regular season, 3-0 playoffs)
Montreal Carabins (QSSF champions / 12-1-1 regular season, 2-0 playoffs)
StFX X-Women (AUS champions / 8-4-1 regular season, 3-0 playoffs)
UBC Thunderbirds (CWUAA finalists / 8-2-4 regular season, 1-1 playoffs)
Queen’s Gaels (OUA finalists / 13-1-2 regular season, 2-1 playoffs)
UPEI Panthers (AUS finalists / 9-3-1 regular season, 1-1 playoffs)
Toronto Varsity Blues (Championship hosts / 11-1-4 regular season, 0-1 playoffs)

CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE

Wednesday, Nov. 11
18:00 All-Canadian Awards Banquet

Thursday, Nov. 12
11:00 Quarterfinal 2: Queen’s vs. StFX (SSN Canada webcast)
13:30 Quarterfinal 1: Trinity Western vs. UPEI (SSN Canada webcast)
15:30 Quarterfinal 3: York vs. UBC (SSN Canada webcast)
18:30 Quarterfinal 4: Montreal vs. Toronto (SSN Canada webcast)

Friday, Nov. 13
13:30 Consolation 1: Loser QF 1 vs. Loser QF 2
15:30 Consolation 2: Loser QF 3 vs. Loser QF 4

Saturday, Nov. 14
13:30 Semi-final 1: Winner QF 1 vs. Winner QF 2 (SSN Canada webcast)
15:30 Semi-final 2: Winner QF 3 vs. Winner QF 4 (SSN Canada webcast)
18:30 Consolation final (5th-place match)

Sunday, Nov. 15
14:00 Bronze medal (SSN Canada webcast)
17:00 Championship final (SSN Canada webcast)