OTTAWA (CIS) – The seeding, pools and schedule were announced Monday for the 2014 Canadian Interuniversity Sport women's rugby championship, which gets under way later this week in Guelph, Ont.
The tournament, hosted by the University of Guelph for the second time in history, kicks off on Thursday and concludes Sunday with the gold-medal final at 2 p.m. All nine games from the tourney will be webcast live on CIS-SIC.tv.
The six teams set to compete for the Monilex Trophy are the top-seeded and defending national champion Alberta Pandas (Canada West champions), No. 2 McMaster Marauders (OUA champs), No. 3 Ottawa Gee-Gees (RSEQ champs), No. 4 StFX X-Women (AUS champs), No. 5 Guelph Gryphons (OUA silver medallists) and No. 6 Western Mustangs (OUA bronze medallists).
The Pandas claimed their record sixth Monilex Trophy a year ago thanks to a 29-10 gold-medal win over the Gryphons in Quebec City. They had previously captured five straight CIS titles from 1999 to 2003, with their first triumph 15 years ago coming in Guelph.
StFX has won the Monilex Trophy on three occasions (2006, 2010, 2012), Guelph (1998, 2011) and Western (2004, 2005) have each been crowned twice, while McMaster and Ottawa are looking for their first CIS banner.
In the 2014 conference playoffs, Alberta beat Calgary 19-11 in the Canada West final; StFX edged Acadia 19-12 in overtime in the AUS title match; Ottawa defeated Concordia 13-5 for its first RSEQ title; McMaster claimed its first OUA championship thanks to a 19-10 victory over Guelph; Western beat Queen's 22-19 for OUA bronze.
At the CIS tourney, Alberta, StFX and Western will battle in Pool A, while McMaster, Ottawa and Guelph will compete in Pool B.
The group winners advance to Sunday's final. The middle teams will fight for CIS bronze and the last-place finishers for fifth position.
On Thursday, Alberta faces Western at 10:30 a.m. and McMaster takes on Guelph at 1:30 p.m. StFX and Ottawa tackle the opening-day losers on Friday and the winners on Saturday.
NOTES: Seeding for the CIS championship is based on conference results at the previous year's tournament... A complete championship preview will follow on Tuesday... The 2014 CIS individual award winners and all-Canadian teams will be announced on Wednesday.
Official championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wrugby/index
POOLS
Pool A
No. 1 Alberta Pandas (Canada West champions: 3-1 regular season / 2-0 playoffs)
No. 4 StFX X-Women (AUS champions: 6-0 regular season / 2-0 playoffs)
No. 6 Western Mustangs (OUA bronze medallists: 2-3 regular season / 2-1 playoffs)
Pool B
No. 2 McMaster Marauders (OUA champions: 4-0-1 regular season / 3-0 playoffs)
No. 3 Ottawa Gee-Gees (RSEQ champions: 7-0 regular season / 2-0 playoffs)
No. 5 Guelph Gryphons (OUA silver medallists: 3-0-2 regular season / 2-1 playoffs)
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Wednesday, Oct. 29
18:30 All-Canadian Awards Gala (Holiday Inn)
Thursday, Oct. 30
10:30 Pool A: Alberta vs. Western (CIS-SIC.tv)
13:30 Pool B: McMaster vs. Guelph (CIS-SIC.tv)
Friday, Oct. 31
10:30 Pool A: Loser (Alberta-Western) vs. StFX (CIS-SIC.tv)
13:30 Pool B: Loser (McMaster-Guelph) vs. Ottawa (CIS-SIC.tv)
Saturday, Nov. 1
10:30 Pool A: Winner (Alberta-Western) vs. StFX (CIS-SIC.tv)
13:30 Pool B: Winner (McMaster-Guelph) vs. Ottawa (CIS-SIC.tv)
Sunday, Nov. 2
10:00 Fifth place: 3rd Pool A vs. 3rd Pool B (CIS-SIC.tv)
12:00 Bronze medal: 2nd Pool A vs. 2nd Pool B (CIS-SIC.tv)
14:00 Championship final: 1st Pool A vs. 1st Pool B (CIS-SIC.tv)
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Every year, over 11,500 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 56 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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