Beautiful game set to begin 2023 season on August 31st
Burlington, Ont. – The Ottawa Gee-Gees and McMaster Marauders capped off the 2022 OUA soccer campaign in winning fashion, and with teams across the province already looking ahead to do the same next season, the OUA is pleased to announce the 2023 women's and men's soccer schedules.
2023 OUA Women's Soccer | FULL SCHEDULE
2023 OUA Men's Soccer | FULL SCHEDULE
Backed by a career year from OUA and U SPORTS player of the year Cassandra Provost, the Gee-Gees galloped to their second championship in the last four seasons in 2022, and they'll begin their title defence on September 2nd when they host the Trent Excalibur for an opening clash. The team they overcame in the OUA finale, the York Lions, will get underway a day earlier, hitting the road for a test against the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks on September 1st.
That same day, the Blackwood Cup winning McMaster men's squad will kick off their own search for a repeat when they head also head to Waterloo for a battle with the Warriors. Runners up on the men's side, the TMU Bold, will head north to take on the Laurentian Voyageurs in their 2023 opener on September 2nd.
While the championship combatants from a year ago will see their seasons start once the calendar turns to September, a pair of teams will mark the official launch of the upcoming campaign the month prior. On August 31st, both the women's and men's sides for the host Queen's Gaels and visiting Toronto Varsity Blues will go head-to-head for the first taste of regular season action on the pitch.
Among the other matchups to keep an eye on throughout the eight-week regular season schedule, which will feature 16 intra-divisional games apiece, are the rematch of the 2021 men's championship between the Lions and Guelph Gryphons on October 13th, as well as a bout between York and the Warriors (September 7th) after the former upset the latter in the playoffs a season ago.
The top-seeded regular season men's squad from 2022, the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks, will look to avenge an upset of their own when they take on the Nipissing Lakers on September 23rd. In a battle between the women's top two East Division seeds from 2022, meanwhile, the Gaels and Gee-Gees will meet a day later on September 24th. Fellow powerhouse Toronto will take on the reigning champs much earlier in 2023, doing so in just their third game of the season (September 8th).
Certainly, there are plenty of dates worth circling on the calendar throughout the upcoming slate, not the least of which is Wednesday, October 25th, the official start of postseason play after the regular season wraps up the Sunday prior with eight tilts on the women's side and seven for the men.
The opening round of postseason play will see the No. 3 teams take on the No. 6 squads in each division, as well as a pair of battles between the fourth and fifth seeded divisional foes on October 25th.
Following that, the Round 1 victors will advance to battle the top teams in their division – who each receive a bye to start their quests for the cup – on Saturday, October 28th, before, for the first time all season, crossing over to find their inter-divisional semifinal foes on the first day of November.
The final two teams standing will then take centre stage as they battle for the coveted OUA crowns, with both the women's and men's OUA champions being determined on November 4th, 2023.
