2009 CIS women’s rugby championship :Schedule and pools announced

OTTAWA (CIS) – The Lethbridge Pronghorns will try to become the second team in history to capture three straight Monilex trophies when the best of Canadian Interuniversity Sport women’s rugby gather in Vancouver for the 2009 national championship, from Nov. 6-8.

The University of British Columbia hosts the six-team end-of-the-year tournament for the first time since women’s rugby was added to the CIS program in 1998. The event kicks off Thursday night with the All-Canadian Awards Banquet and culminates with the gold-medal final next Sunday at 2 p.m. Pacific Time.

SSN Canada is set to webcast the semi-finals on Saturday as well as the bronze-medal match and championship final on Sunday.

Two-time reigning champion Lethbridge enjoyed another sensational season in 2009 outscoring its Canada West opponents 333-7 in six overall duels, including a 30-0 win over Alberta in the conference final, on its way to claiming a fourth straight Canada West banner.

The Pronghorns also scored a 17-12 exhibition victory over the St. Francis Xavier X-Women in Antigonish, N.S., on Sept. 13, in a rematch of last year’s national final won 29-15 by Lethbridge.

Only one team has hoisted the Monilex trophy as CIS champions at the end of three consecutive seasons. The Alberta Pandas were crowned five straight times from 1999 to 2003.

StFX is one of five contenders hoping to stop Lethbridge’s dominance this week.

The X-Women, CIS champions in 2006, were equally dominant this fall in the Atlantic conference outscoring opponents 423-26 in seven overall contests, including a 67-7 gold-medal win over Saint Mary’s for their 12th AUS title in 12 years.

Joining Lethbridge and StFX in Vancouver are the OUA champion Guelph Gryphons, QSSF champion Concordia Stingers, OUA finalist Western Ontario Mustangs, and Canada West bronze medallist and CIS championship host UBC Thunderbirds.

Guelph beat Western 39-7 in the OUA final for its second straight conference championship, and its ninth in 14 years. The Gryphons claimed the inaugural CIS title back in 1998, while the Mustangs were back-to-back national champions in 2004 and 2005 and will be making their eighth consecutive appearance at the CIS tourney.

Concordia booked its ticket for Vancouver with a 13-10 overtime victory over Laval. It marked the Stingers second Quebec championship in three years.

UBC will be playing at the national level for the third time in history. The T-Birds won CIS bronze in 1998 and finished sixth in 2003.

Lethbridge has been grouped in Pool A with Concordia and Western for the round-robin portion of the 2009 CIS tournament, while StFX, Guelph and UBC make up Pool B.

Friday’s preliminary round will see each team battle its two pool opponents, with the top two squads from each group advancing to Saturday’s semi-finals.

The Pronghorns open their title defence against Western Friday at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. Lethbridge beat the Mustangs 20-3 in last year’s preliminary round.

For all the info on the 2009 CIS women’s rugby championship, visit: www.cis-sic.ca

Note: a complete championship preview will follow on Tuesday.

POOLS

Pool A
Lethbridge Pronghorns (Canada West champions / 4-0 regular season, 2-0 playoffs)
Concordia Stingers (QSSF champions / 5-1 regular season, 2-0 playoffs)
Western Ontario Mustangs (OUA finalists / 3-2 regular season, 2-1 playoffs)

Pool B
St. Francis Xavier X-Women (AUS champions / 6-0 regular season, 1-0 playoffs)
Guelph Gryphons (OUA champions / 5-0 regular season, 3-0 playoffs)
UBC Thunderbirds (Championship hosts / 2-2 regular season, 1-1 playoffs)

CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE (All times LOCAL: Pacific Time)

Thursday, Nov. 5
18:00 All-Canadian Awards Banquet

Friday, Nov. 6
10:00 Round-Robin Pool A: Lethbridge vs. Western Ontario
10:00 Round-Robin Pool B: StFX vs. UBC
12:30 Round-Robin Pool A: Concordia vs. Western Ontario
12:30 Round-Robin Pool B: Guelph vs. UBC
15:00 Round-Robin Pool A: Lethbridge vs. Concordia
15:00 Round-Robin Pool B: StFX vs. Guelph

Saturday, Nov. 7
11:00 semi-final 1: first place Pool A vs. second place Pool B (SSN Canada webcast)
13:00 semi-final 2: second place Pool A vs. first place Pool B (SSN Canada webcast)

Sunday, Nov. 8
10:00 5th place: third place Pool A vs. third place Pool B
12:00 Bronze medal (SSN Canada webcast)
14:00 Championship final (SSN Canada webcast)

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