The schedule and quarter-final match-ups are set for the 29th CIS women’s soccer championship in Vancouver and the fifth-seeded Trinity Western University Spartans will open the tournament against Cape Breton Thursday at 1:30 p.m. (PT).
The eight-team tournament, hosted by the University of British Columbia for the first time since 1990 and the third time overall, concludes next Sunday at Thunderbird Stadium with the gold-medal final set for 4:30 p.m.
All 11 games will be webcast live on www.CIS-SIC.tv.
The Spartans’ quarter-final match-up will see them take on the Capers for the third time in CIS championship history.
TWU beat Cape Breton in each of their previous two meetings, beating the Capers 1-0 in the championship semifinal in Toronto in 2013 and 4-0 in the consolation semifinal in Victoria in 2006.
TWU was forced to settle for Canada West silver after losing to 1-0 UBC 1-0 in the conference final on Sunday afternoon.
The Laval Rouge et Or, who beat TWU in the gold medal game last year to become the first team from Quebec to capture the Gladys Bean Memorial Trophy, have received the top seed for the national tournament after repeating as RSEQ conference champions.
Rounding out the 2015 draw are the second-seeded and host UBC Thunderbirds (Canada West champions), No. 3 Queen’s Gaels (OUA champs), No. 4 Cape Breton Capers (AUS champs), No. 5 Trinity Western Spartans (Canada West finalists), No. 6 Sherbrooke Vert & Or (RSEQ finalists), No. 7 Calgary Dinos (Canada West bronze medallists), and No. 8 Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (OUA finalists).
Thursday’s quarter-final matchups include Laurier vs. Laval at 11 a.m., TWU versus Cape Breton at 1:30 p.m., Sherbrooke against Queen’s at 4:30 p.m., and Calgary versus UBC at 7 p.m.
In addition to Laval, UBC (five), Trinity Western (five), Queen’s (five), Laurier (two), Cape Breton (one) and Calgary (one) have also hoisted the Gladys Bean Trophy in the past.
NOTES: The CIS individual awards and all-Canadians will be announced on Wednesday night.