2024 AUS fall sports schedules released

(HALIFAX, N.S.) – Atlantic University Sport released the 2024 fall sports schedule today, including women's rugby, men's football, men's and women's soccer and men's and women's cross country. Hosts for each of the 2024 fall championships have also been confirmed.

Women's Rugby

Opening day for the 2024 women's rugby season is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 7 with a pair of games leading things off.

The defending champions from STFX will start their season on the road with a 2 p.m. matchup against the host Saint Mary's Huskies in Halifax, N.S. The X-Women have captured six of the last seven AUS titles and will look to continue their dominance this coming season.

The day's other contest pits the UPEI Panthers against the visiting Acadia Axewomen in another 2 p.m. start. UPEI captured their first AUS banner in 2022 but failed in their bid to repeat, falling to STFX by a score of 26-22 in last season's championship game.

The 2024 AUS Women's Rugby Championship, presented by Bell, will once again feature a three-team playoff format. The team that finishes third in the regular season standings will visit the second-place team in Week 7, with the winner moving on to visit the first-place team the following week in the championship final game.

The Panthers will host Canada's best from Oct. 30-Nov. 3 when they will host the 2024 U SPORTS Women's Rugby Championship. The AUS conference will have two teams take part in the national tournament. With UPEI hosting, if the Panthers win the AUS title, the runner-up will earn the second berth. If UPEI does not win the AUS title, the conference champion will earn the AUS berth and UPEI will receive the host berth.

Football

The 2024 AUS football season will once again see each of the five teams play eight regular season games over the course of a 10-week schedule.

The first weekend of play is set for Aug. 24 with the Bishop's Gaiters heading to Halifax to take on the host Saint Mary's Huskies in a 3 p.m. kickoff, and the Acadia Axemen heading to Sackville, N.B., to meet the host Mount Allison Mounties in a 2 p.m. start.

The three-time defending champion STFX X-Men will have to wait until Week 2 (Saturday, Aug. 31) to start their quest for another AUS title when they travel to Lennoxville, Que., to face Bishop's in a rematch of last year's championship title game. Kickoff is slated for 2 p.m. EST.

STFX have not lost a regular season game since Oct. 11, 2019, when they fell 44-25 to Acadia. Since then, they have been victorious in 23-straight regular season contests.

Acadia will host their home opener in Week 2 against the visiting Huskies at 2 p.m.

The X-Men's home opener will come in Week 3 (Saturday, Sept. 7) when they welcome the Axemen to STFX Stadium in a 2 p.m. start.

Regular season play will wrap up the Oct. 25-26 weekend with the Mounties heading to Bishop's in a Friday night game set to begin at 7 p.m. EST. The next day, Saint Mary's travels to STFX for a 2 p.m. matchup.

AUS playoffs begin the following weekend with a pair of semifinal games. The first-place team will host the fourth-place team while the second-seeded team hosts the third-seeded team. Both games will be played Saturday, Nov. 2.

The winner will advance to the 2024 AUS Loney Bowl, presented by Bell, which will be played Saturday, Nov. 9 and hosted by the highest-seeded remaining team.

The AUS champion will then host the Ontario conference champion in the 2024 U SPORTS Uteck Bowl Saturday, Nov. 16.   

The Mitchell Bowl and Uteck Bowl winners will advance to play each other in the 59^th Vanier Cup on Saturday, Nov. 23. The 2024 national championship game will be hosted by Queen's University in Kingston, Ont.

Soccer

Each of the 10 AUS men's and women's soccer teams will be in action when the season begins on the Aug. 30 to Sept. 1 weekend.

STFX enters the season as the reigning AUS champions on both the men's and women's side, and will begin their year on the road against the Saint Mary's Huskies on Friday, Aug. 30 with the women starting at 5 p.m., followed by the men at 7:15 p.m.

The Cape Breton Capers men's team won the 2023 U SPORTS national title on their home pitch last season. They will open their season on Friday, Aug. 30 on the road against the UNB Reds at 7:15 p.m.

The X-Women will host the AUS Women's Soccer Championship, presented by Bell from Oct. 24-27, while UNB will host the AUS Men's Soccer Championship that same weekend.

Dalhousie University will welcome the country's best from Nov. 7-10 when they host the 2024 U SPORTS Women's Soccer Championship in Halifax.

The 2024 U SPORTS Men's Soccer Championship will be played that same weekend in Oshawa, Ont., with Ontario Tech University playing hosts.

Cross Country

AUS men's and women's cross-country teams will pull the trigger on their season Sept. 7 when Acadia hosts the year's first meet in Wolfville, N.S.

STFX will host the second meet of the season on Sept. 21 in Antigonish, N.S., while Moncton will welcome the conference's runners a few weeks later on Saturday, Oct. 5.

Memorial University will host the 2024 AUS Cross Country Championships, presented by Bell, on Saturday, Oct. 26.

Runners who qualify for the 2024 U SPORTS Cross Country Championships will head to Kelowna, B.C. for the event hosted by UBC-Okanagan on Nov. 9.

Complete 2024 rugby, football, soccer, and cross-country schedules are now available at www.atlanticuniversitysport.com or by visiting the following links:

- Football: https://www.atlanticuniversitysport.com/sports/fball/2024-25/schedule?confonly=1
- Rugby: https://www.atlanticuniversitysport.com/sports/wrugby/2024-25/schedule?confonly=1
- Women's Soccer: https://www.atlanticuniversitysport.com/sports/wsoc/2024-25/schedule?confonly=1

- Men's Soccer: https://www.atlanticuniversitysport.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule?confonly=1
- Women's Cross Country: https://www.atlanticuniversitysport.com/sports/wxc/2024-25/schedule
- Men's Cross Country: https://www.atlanticuniversitysport.com/sports/mxc/2024-25/schedule

The 2024-25 winter sports schedules will be announced in May.