CIS MEN'S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW

OTTAWA (CIS) – New national champions will be crowned this week when the best eight teams in the country gather in Victoria for the 42nd CIS men’s soccer championship.

The single-elimination tournament, hosted by the University of Victoria for the first time since 1999, kicks off Thursday and concludes Sunday at 2 p.m. Pacific with the gold-medal final. All 11 games from the competition will be webcast live by SSN Canada.

Joining the host UVic Vikes in the quest for the Sam Davidson memorial trophy are the Saint Mary’s Huskies (AUS playoff champions), Montreal Carabins (RSEQ champions), McMaster Marauders (OUA champions), Alberta Golden Bears (Canada West champions), Cape Breton Capers (AUS regular season champions), McGill Redmen (RSEQ finalists) and Toronto Varsity Blues (OUA finalists).

Thursday’s quarter-finals will see Saint Mary’s face McGill at 11 a.m. Pacific, Alberta battle Toronto at 1:30 p.m., McMaster take on Cape Breton at 4:30 p.m., and Montreal square off against Victoria at 7 p.m.

Most of the teams in the field are usual suspects, although only four have hoisted the Davidson trophy in the past, including Victoria (4), Alberta (3), McGill (3) and Toronto (1).

While the other contenders are still looking for that elusive first title, Saint Mary’s has played in four CIS finals and is making its ninth appearance at the tournament over the past dozen years. Montreal is competing at the tourney for the seventh time in the last nine seasons. And McMaster advanced out of the OUA for the second time in three campaigns and has reached the CIS title match twice in school history.

Only Cape Breton can be considered a “new kid on the block” with only two appearances before this week. But both have come in the last four seasons and the Capers are also becoming regulars at the national rendez-vous.

One team that didn’t qualify to compete in B.C.’s capital this year is the York Lions, winners of two of the past three CIS finals. Ranked No. 1 in the country for most of the season in the weekly coaches’ poll, the Lions suffered a stunning 4-1 loss to cross-town rival Toronto last Saturday in the OUA semis. However, the Blues, who finished one point behind Carleton in the OUA East standings with a 10-2-2 record, couldn’t carry that momentum into the OUA championship game and fell 3-1 to McMaster.

“Winning the OUA championship is a great accomplishment for our squad,” says Mac head coach Dino Perri, whose troops had placed second behind York in the OUA West thanks to a 10-2-4 mark. “With so many quality teams in Ontario the path is always difficult. We have had to overcome many challenges along this path which will provide value leading into Nationals. I look forward to see how we compete with the top teams in the country.”

In Quebec, Montreal (8-1-3) edged McGill (7-3-2) by four points in the regular season and the scenario repeated itself in the playoffs, with the Carabins outscoring their Mt. Royal neighbors 3-2 in the RSEQ conference final.

“We’ll face quite a challenge in Victoria opening against the host team as they will no doubt draw a large partisan crowd,” says Carabins bench boss Pat Raimondo, who guided McGill to the CIS title in 1997 in a previous head coaching assignment. “We still have a few days to put the final touches to our preparation before we enter the most interesting part of the season.

“We have a young team. None of our players have been at Nationals before. We want to gain experience against teams that have more experience than we do,” added Raimondo.

In Canada West, the Vikes (10-2-2) finished first in league play with a comfortable five-point lead over UBC (7-1-6) and were especially dominant in the latter stages of the season as they closed out the schedule with seven straight wins.

But it was the fourth-place Bears (7-3-4) who got hot at the right time at the conference Final Four, upsetting both Victoria in the semis, 2-1, and UBC in the final, 1-0.

“After winning the Canada West championship in Victoria last weekend, we’re ready to come back and compete for the CIS championship, says Len Vickery, in his 27th campaign on the Alberta sidelines.

“Although we’re returning to the tournament, this year’s team is quite different from last year and we’re approaching the championship from a different angle,” added the veteran head coach, whose charges went 0-2 at the 2010 CIS tourney. “We know that our opening game against Toronto will be difficult because they beat the defending CIS champions.”

After claiming the sixth and final spot for the AUS playoffs with a 4-3-6 record and scoring only 19 goals in 13 league games, the Huskies surprised third-place StFX 1-0 on penalty kicks in the conference quart-finals and then exploded for 10 goals in back-to-back upsets of top-seeded Cape Breton in the semis, 4-1, and second-place UPEI in the final, 6-0. Half of those markers came from striker Elvir Gigolaj, who found the back of the net four times in the title match.

Thankfully for the Capers, they still earned a ticket to Victoria as the regular season champions, a new rule in AUS men’s soccer this year. Cape Breton was the highest-scoring team in the country this fall with 43 goals in 13 league matches, including 27 by all-stars forwards Keishen Bean (16) and Ian Greedy (11).

2010 York (at Toronto)
2009 Laval (at Trinity Western)
2008 York (at Carleton)
2007 UBC (at UBC)
2006 Alberta (at Alberta)
2005 UBC (at UPEI)
2004 Victoria (at Montreal / McGill)
2003 Alberta (at Montreal / McGill)
2002 Brock (at Carleton)
2001 Laurier (at Saint Mary's)
2000 Laurier (at McMaster)
1999 Western (at Victoria)
1998 Western (at McGill)
1997 McGill (at Dalhousie)
1996 Victoria (at York)
1995 Dalhousie (at UQTR)
1994 UBC (at UBC)
1993 Sherbrooke (at Acadia)
1992 UBC (at Guelph)
1991 UBC (at Queen's)
1990 UBC (at Guelph)
1989 UBC (at UBC)
1988 Toronto (at UBC)
1987 Victoria (at McGill)
1986 UBC (at Toronto)
1985 UBC (at UBC)
1984 UBC (at Carleton)
1983 Laurentian (at Laurentian)
1982 McGill (at McGill)
1981 McGill (at Alberta)
1980 UNB (at UNB)
1979 Alberta (at Alberta)
1978 Manitoba (at Concordia)
1977 York (at Waterloo)
1976 Concordia (at Concordia)
1975 Victoria (at Victoria)
1974 UBC (at Concordia)
1973 Loyola (at Memorial)
1972 Alberta (at York)
1971 Laurentian
1970 Memorial

Saint Mary’s Huskies (AUS playoff champions)
Head Coach: Stewart Galloway (20th season)
Regular season record: 4-3-6
Regular season standing: 6th AUS
Playoff record: 3-0
Playoff finish: AUS champions
Final Top 10 ranking (Nov. 1): Unranked
Best Top 10 ranking (9 weeks): No. 3 (first poll)
Number of weeks in Top 10 (9 weeks): 2
Conference award winners: None
Conference 1st team all-stars: Adam Downie (D), Rory Kennedy (M)
Conference 2nd team all-stars: Adam Miller (G)
CIS championship appearances (including 2011): 13
CIS championship all-time record: 15-13-3 (.532)
CIS championship all-time medals: 6 (4 silver, 2 bronze) *
CIS championship best result: 4-time finalists (1979, 1989, 2000, 2003)
CIS championship last appearance: 2010 (bronze)
CIS championship sequence: 9th appearance in 12 years

McMaster Marauders (OUA champions)
Head Coach: Dino Perri (4th season)
Regular season record: 10-2-4
Regular season standing: 2nd OUA West
Playoff record: 3-0
Playoff finish: OUA champions
Final Top 10 ranking (Nov. 1): No. 7
Best Top 10 ranking (9 weeks): No. 6 (1 week)
Number of weeks in Top 10 (9 weeks): 4
Conference award winners (OUA West): Gersi Xhuti (rookie)
Conference 1st team all-stars (OUA West): Matt Grant (G), Anthony Costa (D), Garret McConville (M), Gersi Xhuti (M)
Conference 2nd team all-stars (OUA West): Aaron Boothe (M), Mark Reilly (F)
CIS championship appearances (including 2011): 7
CIS championship all-time record: 5-8-1 (.393)
CIS championship all-time medals: 3 (2 silver, 1 bronze)
CIS championship best result: 2-time finalists (1991, 1992)
CIS championship last appearance: 2009 (tied 7th)
CIS championship sequence: 2nd appearance in 3 years

Alberta Golden Bears (Canada West champions)
Head Coach: Len Vickery (27th season)
Regular season record: 7-3-4
Regular season standing: 4th Canada West
Playoff record: 2-0
Playoff finish: Canada West champions
Final Top 10 ranking (Nov. 1): Unranked
Best Top 10 ranking (9 weeks): No. 7 (first poll)
Number of weeks in Top 10 (9 weeks): 1
Conference award winners: None
Conference 1st team all-stars: Milan Timotijevic (M)
Conference 2nd team all-stars: Brett Colvin (M/F), Osmo Bimba (D)
CIS championship appearances (including 2011): 13
CIS championship all-time record: 19-9-3 (.661)
CIS championship all-time medals: 10 (4 gold, 6 silver) *
CIS championship best result: 4-time champions (1972, 1979, 2003, 2006)
CIS championship last appearance: 2010 (tied 7th)
CIS championship sequence: 2nd straight appearance

McGill Redmen (RSEQ finalists)
Head Coach: David Simon (3rd season)
Regular season record: 7-3-2
Regular season standing: 2nd RSEQ
Playoff record: 1-1
Playoff finish: RSEQ finalists
Final Top 10 ranking (Nov. 1): No. 10
Best Top 10 ranking (9 weeks): No. 4 (third poll)
Number of weeks in Top 10 (9 weeks): 8
Conference award winners: David Simon (coach)
Conference 1st team all-stars: Alexis Pradié (D), Thomas Lucas (D)
Conference 2nd team all-stars: Yohann Capolungo (M), George Banks (F)
CIS championship appearances (including 2011): 21
CIS championship all-time record: 18-22-5 (.456)
CIS championship all-time medals: 8 (3 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze) *
CIS championship best result: 3-time champions (1981, 1982, 1997)
CIS championship last appearance: 2009 (finalists)
CIS championship sequence: 2nd appearance in 3 years

Wednesday, Nov. 9
18:00 All-Canadian Awards Banquet

Thursday, Nov. 10
11:00 Quarter-final 1: Saint Mary’s vs. McGill (SSN Canada webcast)
13:30 Quarter-final 2: Alberta vs. Toronto (SSN Canada webcast)
16:30 Quarter-final 3: McMaster vs. Cape Breton (SSN Canada webcast)
19:00 Quarter-final 4: Montreal vs. Victoria (SSN Canada webcast)

Friday, Nov. 11
11:00 Consolation 1: Loser QF 1 vs. Loser QF 2 (SSN Canada webcast)
13:30 Consolation 2: Loser QF 3 vs. Loser QF 4 (SSN Canada webcast)
16:30 Semifinal 1: Winner QF 1 vs. Winner QF 2 (SSN Canada webcast)
19:00 Semifinal 2: Winner QF 3 vs. Winner QF 4 (SSN Canada webcast)

Saturday, Nov. 12
14:30 5th-place game (SSN Canada webcast)

Sunday, Nov. 13
11:30 Bronze medal (SSN Canada webcast)
14:00 Championship final (SSN Canada webcast)

NOTE 1: SHAW TV will broadcast the final on tape delay in the Greater Victoria market.
NOTE 2: Live stats available for all games through championship website.