CIS Top Ten Tuesday (#4): Ottawa moves up to No. 1 in women’s soccer

Photo credit Richard Whittaker

OTTAWA (CIS) – For the first time in five years, the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees are the top team in CIS women’s soccer.

In other CIS sports, the Guelph Gryphons open the cross-country running season atop the women’s and men’s national rankings, while the St. Francis Xavier X-Women and Alberta Golden Bears hold on to the pole position in women’s rugby and men’s soccer, respectively.

In women’s soccer, the Gee-Gees move up one position to No. 1 in the fourth coaches’ poll of the young campaign, marking the first time they reach the coveted status since October of 2007 (Oct. 16 poll). Ottawa is already the third team to reach the top of the women’s soccer rankings this fall, following reigning CIS champion Queen’s (one week) and Montreal (two weeks).

The Gee-Gees, CIS bronze medallists a year ago, dominated Trent 6-0 in their lone outing of the past week to improve to 7-0-1 in conference play. They will be much busier this week as they are set to face RMC (3-5-0) on Wednesday, Toronto (5-1-2) on Saturday and Ryerson (1-6-1) on Sunday.

Rounding out the top five this week are No. 2 Trinity Western (5-0-0), up one position; No. 3 McGill (5-0-0), up two; No. 4 Montreal (6-1-0), down three; and No. 5 Wilfrid Laurier (6-0-2), down one. McGill edged Montreal 2-1 last Thursday, handing the Carabins their first loss of the season and causing them to lose the No. 1 ranking.

In cross country, Guelph scored 100 points in the initial women’s Top 10 to open in front of No. 2 Windsor (83.3) and No. 3 Laval (68.3), while the Gryphon men tallied 96.7 points to distance McMaster (90.6) and Victoria (70.6).

Guelph has dominated CIS cross country in recent years, capturing the last seven national team banners in women’s competition and six straight men’s championships.

In women’s rugby, top-ranked StFX easily improved to 3-0 in league play with crushing victories over St. Thomas, 73-3, and UPEI, 98-0. The X-Women, who have outscored their opponents 272-3 in their first three AUS contests, host Saint Mary’s (2-2) Saturday and visit UPEI (1-3) Sunday.

In men’s soccer, No. 1 Alberta (5-0-0) also cruised through the past weekend with a pair of road wins against Canada West newcomer Winnipeg, 3-0 and 5-0. The Golden Bears hit the road again this week, this time heading west to face defending CIS champion Victoria (2-3-1) on Friday and Fraser Valley (1-2-1) on Saturday.

WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY

(points) / (previous rankings)
1. Guelph 96.7 points / (-)
2. McMaster 90.6 / (-)
3. Victoria 70.6 / (-)
4. Western 65.6 / (-)
5. McGill 57.2 / (-)
6. Toronto 36.7 / (-)
7. StFX 26.1 / (-)
8. Queen’s 23.9 / (-)
9. Saskatchewan 22.8 / (-)
10. Calgary 19.4 / (-)

MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY

(points) / (previous rankings)
1. Guelph 100.0 points / (-)
2. Windsor 83.3 / (-)
3. Laval 68.3 / (-)
4. Victoria 67.8 / (-)
5. Queen’s 51.1 / (-)
6. Regina 41.7 / (-)
7. McMaster 38.9 / (-)
8. StFX 25.6 / (-)
9. Western 23.9 / (-)
10. Toronto 20.0 / (-)

WOMEN’S RUGBY

(regular season record) / votes (first-place votes) / (previous rankings)
1. StFX (3-0) / 139 points (8) / (1)
2. Guelph (4-0) / 128 (5) / (2)
3. Lethbridge (2-0) / 105 / (3)
4. Queen’s (4-0) / 95 (1) / (5)
5. Laval (4-0) / 91 / (4)
6. Concordia (4-0) / 69 / (6)
7. Calgary (2-0) / 39 / (10)
8. McGill (3-1) / 35 / (7)
9. Alberta (0-0) / 28 / (8)
10. Western (3-1) / 23 / (NR)

Other teams receiving votes: McMaster (13), Acadia (9), Waterloo (8), Ottawa (1).

WOMEN’S SOCCER

(regular season record) / votes / (previous rankings)
1. Ottawa (7-0-1) / 47 points / (2)
2. Trinity Western (5-0-0) / 46 / (3)
3. McGill (5-0-0) / 38 / (5)
4. Montreal (6-1-0) / 32 / (1) *
5. Wilfrid Laurier (6-0-2) / 32 / (4)
6. Queen’s (5-1-2) / 20 / (6)
7. Alberta (3-0-2) / 14 / (7)
8. Victoria (4-0-1) / 13 / (NR)
9. Regina (4-0-0) / 12 / (8) *
10. Cape Breton (5-0-0) / 12 / (9)

* Montreal edges Laurier for No. 4, and Regina edges Cape Breton for No. 9 thanks to a higher ranking the previous week.

Other teams receiving votes: UBC (6), UPEI (1), Sherbrooke (1), York (1).

MEN’S SOCCER

(regular season record) / votes / (previous rankings)
1. Alberta (5-0-0) / 58 points / (1)
2. York (7-0-1) / 55 / (2)
3. UBC (4-0-0) / 43 / (3)
4. Saint Mary’s (4-0-1) / 40 / (4)
5. Queen’s (6-0-1) / 35 / (7)
6. McMaster (7-1-0) / 31 / (5)
7. Trinity Western (5-0-1) / 26 / (8)
8. Sherbrooke (3-1-1) / 18 / (6)
9. Saskatchewan (4-0-1) / 10 / (NR)
10. Carleton (6-1-0) / 8 / (NR)

-CIS-