OTTAWA (CIS) – The schedule and opening-round matchups were announced Sunday night for the 46th CIS men's soccer championship, which gets underway Thursday in Toronto.
The eight-team tournament, hosted by the York University for the first time since 1996 and the third time overall, concludes next Sunday at York Stadium with the gold-medal final set for 2 p.m. All 11 games from the competition will be webcast live on CIS-SIC.tv.
The host York Lions, who last year in Charlottetown captured the fourth Sam Davidson Memorial Trophy in program history, received the top seed for the national tourney after repeating as OUA conference champions.
Rounding out the 2015 draw are the second-seeded UNB Varsity Reds (AUS champions), No. 3 UQAM Citadins (RSEQ champs), No. 4 UBC Thunderbirds (Canada West champs), No. 5 Toronto Varsity Blues (OUA bronze medallists), No. 6 McMaster Marauders (OUA finalists), No. 7 Victoria Vikes (Canada West finalists) and No. 8 Cape Breton Capers (AUS finalists).
Thursday's quarter-final matchups include McMaster vs. UQAM at 11 a.m., Victoria vs. UNB at 1:30 p.m., Toronto vs. UBC at 4 p.m., and Cape Breton vs. York at 7 p.m.
In addition to York, UBC (13), Victoria (5), UNB (1) and Toronto (1) have also hoisted the Sam Davidson Trophy in the past.
NOTES: Seeding is predetermined and based on conference results at the previous CIS championship... A complete championship preview will follow on Tuesday... The CIS individual awards and all-Canadians will be announced on Wednesday night.
SEEDING (based on conference results at previous year's championship)
1. York Lions (OUA champions: 14-0-2 regular season / 3-0 playoffs)
2. UNB Varsity Reds (AUS champions: 11-0-3 regular season / 2-0 playoffs)
3. UQAM Citadins (RSEQ champions: 10-1-1 regular season / 2-0 playoffs)
4. UBC Thunderbirds (Canada West champions: 10-0-2 regular season / 3-0 playoffs)
5. Toronto Varsity Blues (OUA bronze medallists: 11-3-2 regular season / 2-1 playoffs)
6. McMaster Marauders (OUA finalists: 11-5-0 regular season / 3-1 playoffs)
7. Victoria Vikes (Canada West finalists: 6-3-3 regular season / 2-1 playoffs)
8. Cape Breton Capers (AUS finalists: 5-2-6 regular season / 1-1 playoffs)
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Wednesday, Nov. 11
18:00 All-Canadian Awards Banquet (Toscana Banquet and Conference Centre)
Thursday, Nov. 12
11:00 Quarter-final 1: McMaster vs. UQAM (CIS-SIC.tv)
13:30 Quarter-final 2: Victoria vs. UNB (CIS-SIC.tv)
16:00 Quarter-final 3: Toronto vs. UBC (CIS-SIC.tv)
19:00 Quarter-final 4: Cape Breton vs. York (CIS-SIC.tv)
Friday, Nov. 13
11:00 Consolation 1: Loser QF 1 vs. Loser QF 2 (CIS-SIC.tv)
13:30 Consolation 2: Loser QF 3 vs. Loser QF 4 (CIS-SIC.tv)
Saturday, Nov. 14
11:00 Semifinal 1: Winner QF 1 vs. Winner QF 2 (CIS-SIC.tv)
13:30 Semifinal 2: Winner QF 3 vs. Winner QF 4 (CIS-SIC.tv)
16:00 5th-place game (CIS-SIC.tv)
Sunday, Nov. 15
11:00 Bronze medal (CIS-SIC.tv)
14:00 Championship final (CIS-SIC.tv)