Kwantlen Polytechnic University will host the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association’s (CCAA) women’s soccer national championship Wednesday through Saturday at Newton Athletic Park.
They are hoping the tournament will be among the most successful, and are guaranteed it will be the largest.
For the first time, the championship tournament is an eight -team competition, up from six in previous years.
The five league champions from across the country, along with the host Eagles and two wild-cards will be competing.
The RSEQ (Quebec) conference and the Alberta Colleges Athletic Association (ACAC) have earned the wild-cards for this year’s tournament based on their success over the past three seasons.
The Indiennes d’Ahuntsic are the defending CCAA champions, but are just third in the national rankings. RSEQ champion Elans de Garneau holds down to top spot, followed by the ACAC champion MacEwan Griffins.
The Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack of Kamloops are the PACWEST (Pacific Western Conference) champions and are ranked fourth.
Elans de Garneau will be the first opponent for the host Kwantlen Eagles, coming off a 2-7-4 (won-lost-tied) record in the PACWEST league. Kickoff is at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Semifinal games will be played at 3 and 5:30 p.m. Thursday, with medal games at 11:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
