CIS Top 10: Ottawa women's soccer, Guelph cross country hold down number one spots
In other CIS sports, UBC regains the pole position in men’s soccer, while Ottawa (women’s soccer), Alberta (women’s rugby) and Guelph (women’s & men’s cross country) all maintain their No. 1 status.
In women’s hockey, McGill opens the campaign at No. 1 for the sixth time in eight years. The Martlets, who missed the CIS championship tournament for the first time in 11 seasons last winter, have been impressive so far this fall with four wins in six exhibition matches, including a 5-3 success over third-ranked Laurier and a 2-1 victory over No. 6 Queen’s in their only confrontations against CIS opponents.
McGill has pre-season games left against the NWHL’s Montreal Stars as well as Dartmouth and Harvard of the NCAA before hosting Carleton for its RSEQ opener on Oct. 25.
Meanwhile, reigning national champion Montreal shows a pre-season record of 2-2, including a win and a loss against Laurier, a 6-1 domination of fourth-ranked StFX and a 5-2 loss to Queen’s. The Carabins, who captured the first CIS banner in program history last winter after upsetting McGill in the RSEQ final, kick off league play on Oct. 18 against Ottawa.
Archrivals Montreal and McGill square off on Oct. 27.
Rounding out the first Top 10 of the year are Laurier, StFX, Regina, Queen’s, Calgary, Western, Guelph and UBC.
In men’s hockey, Alberta has won 11 of 13 games this fall, including 5-0 and 4-0 shutouts against Manitoba last weekend to start their Canada West schedule. The Golden Bears had last opened the season at No. 1 in 2010-11.
UNB has to wait until Oct. 18 to kick off its AUS schedule. The V-Reds, who claimed their fourth University Cup title in seven years last March, are 5-2 in pre-season action, including a perfect 4-0 mark against CIS competition.
Following in order in the first men’s hockey media poll of the campaign are Western, Calgary, Waterloo, Saskatchewan, UPEI, Saint Mary’s, Carleton and UQTR.
In men’s soccer, UBC moves up one position in the new Top 10 to reclaim the No. 1 spot. The Thunderbirds improved to 9-1 in Canada West play last weekend with 4-1 and 3-0 wins over UNBC.
The York Lions (9-2), who had topped the coaches’ poll each of the last two weeks, drop to third place following a 1-0 loss to No. 6 McMaster, which marked their second defeat in as many duels against the Marauders this season.
WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
(points) / (previous rankings)1. Guelph 100 points / (1)
2. Queen’s 80 / (3)
3. Western 77 / (2)
4. Victoria 63 / (5)
5. Toronto 57 / (4)
6. McMaster 51 / (6)
T7. Dalhousie 29 / (7)
T7. McGill 29 / (8)
9. Calgary 18 / (9)
10. Laurentian 15 / (10)
MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
(points) / (previous rankings)1. Guelph 100 points / (1)
2. Laval 87 / (2)
3. Victoria 77 / (4)
4. Windsor 75 / (3)
5. McMaster 49 / (5)
6. Lakehead 48 / (7)
7. Queen’s 46 / (6)
8. Western 22 / (8)
T9. Regina 14 / (T9)
T9. Trinity Western 14 / (T9)
WOMEN’S HOCKEY
(regular season record)1. McGill (0-0-0)
2. Montreal (0-0-0)
3. Wilfrid Laurier (1-1-0)
4. StFX (0-0-0)
5. Regina (2-0-0)
6. Queen’s (0-0-1)
7. Calgary (0-1-1)
8. Western (2-0-0)
9. Guelph (2-0-0)
10. UBC (1-1-0)
MEN’S HOCKEY
(regular season record) / votes (first-place votes)1. Alberta (2-0-0) / 162 points (9)
2. UNB (0-0-0) / 160 (8)
3. Western (0-0-0) / 86
4. Calgary (2-0-0) / 80
5. Waterloo (0-0-0) / 70
6. Saskatchewan (1-1-0) / 68
7. UPEI (0-0-0) / 60
8. Saint Mary’s (0-0-0) / 56
9. Carleton (0-0-0) / 54
10. UQTR (0-0-0) / 46
Other teams receiving votes: StFX (32), McGill (19), Brock (15), Windsor (8), Ottawa (7), Manitoba (4), Queen’s (4), York (2), Acadia (1), Dalhousie (1).
WOMEN’S RUGBY
(regular season record) / votes (first-place votes) / (previous rankings)1. Alberta (4-0) / 99 points (4) / (1)
2. Guelph (5-0) / 88 (3) / (2)
3. Concordia (6-0) / 75 / (3)
4. Queen’s (5-0) / 73 (1) / (4)
5. Acadia (6-0) / 62 (1) / (5)
6. StFX (6-1) / 53 / (6)
7. McGill (5-1) / 36 / (8)
8. Calgary (2-1-1) / 24 / (7)
9. McMaster (3-2) / 20 / (9)
10. Lethbridge (1-2-1) / 11 / (NR)
Other teams receiving votes: Ottawa (9), Waterloo (5), Western (5).
WOMEN’S SOCCER
(regular season record) / (votes) / (previous rankings)1. Ottawa (10-0-2) / 49 points / (1)
2. Alberta (8-0-2) / 44 / (3)
3. Laval (8-1-1) / 42 / (2)
4. Western (6-0-5) / 31 / (5)
5. Montreal (7-1-2) / 28 / (4)
6. UBC (5-0-3) / 20 / (6)
7. Saskatchewan (6-1-2) / 17 / (8)
8. Cape Breton (5-0-4) / 11 / (NR)
9. Dalhousie (6-2-1) / 10 / (9)
10. Toronto (8-2-2) / 7 / (NR)
Other teams receiving votes: Trinity Western (6), Victoria (5), Wilfrid Laurier (5).
MEN’S SOCCER
(regular season record) / (votes) / (previous rankings)1. UBC (9-1-0) / 60 points / (2)
2. Ryerson (9-0-1) / 52 / (3)
3. York (9-2-0) / 48 / (1)
4. Montreal (6-1-2) / 40 / (4)
5. Guelph (8-1-4) / 39 / (5)
6. McMaster (8-2-2) / 26 / (8)
7. UNB (5-2-2) / 20 / (7)
8. Saskatchewan (7-3-0) / 17 / (NR)
9. Saint Mary’s (5-2-3) / 13 / (10)
10. Victoria (6-2-0) / 10 / (NR)
Source: CIS