The McMaster Marauders, the No.1 ranked team in the nation all season, head into the CIS women's rugby championship looking to defend their title from 2015, with a challenging draw after being upset in the OUA championship on Friday.
The tournament, hosted for the second time by the University of Victoria, kicks off on Thursday at Wallace Field and concludes Sunday with the gold-medal final at 3 p.m. PT.
Having dropped the OUA final to the Guelph Gryphons, the Marauders face an uphill climb in Victoria, seeded seventh in the eight-team tournament.
Their journey to a repeat title begins against the RSEQ champions, the Ottawa Gee-Gees, who they meet in the second quarter-final of the tournament's opening day Thursday, kicking off at 2:00 p.m. Pacific (5:00 p.m. Eastern).
The Marauders and Gee-Gees meet for the third consecutive year at the CIS Championship, with McMaster having topped Ottawa in each of the previous two national events. In 2014, Mac defeated Ottawa 17-12 in pool play before ultimately taking home silver, while a year later, the Marauders ground out a 14-8 win over the Gee-Gees in a national semi-final en route to gold.
Following a physically and emotionally draining game to decide the OUA championship against the Gryphons, Marauders head coach Shaun Allen pinpointed rest and recuperation as priority number one ahead of Thursday's quarter-final.
"The biggest thing we need to do is just recover. It was a really tough match both physically and mentally," said Allen of the OUA gold medal game. "We need to make sure we go into our first game on Thursday in Victoria healthy and ready to play our game. If we continue to do what we have been doing on the pitch all season, we can compete with any team in the tournament."
The other teams set to compete for the Monilex Trophy are the top-seeded Guelph Gryphons (OUA champions), No. 3 Calgary Dinos(Canada West champs), No. 4 StFX X-Women (AUS champs), No. 5 Concordia Stingers (RSEQ finalists), No. 6 Acadia Axewomen (AUS finalists) and No. 8 Victoria Vikes (hosts/Canada West finalists).
Thursday's quarter-final matchups include Calgary vs. Acadia in the opener at 12 p.m., followed by Ottawa vs. McMaster at 2 p.m., StFX vs. Concordia at 5 p.m., as well as host Victoria vs. Guelph at 7 p.m.
Official championship website:
http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wrugby/index
MONILEX TROPHY CHAMPIONS
2015 McMaster
2014 StFX
2013 Alberta
2012 StFX
2011 Guelph
2010 StFX
2009 Lethbridge
2008 Lethbridge
2007 Lethbridge
2006 StFX
2005 Western
2004 Western
2003 Alberta
2002 Alberta
2001 Alberta
2000 Alberta
1999 Alberta
1998 Guelph
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE (All times Pacific Time)
Wednesday, Nov. 2
18:30 All-Canadian Awards Gala (Harbour Towers Hotel & Suites)
Thursday, Nov. 3
12:00 Quarter-final 1: No. 3 Calgary vs. No. 6 Acadia
14:00 Quarter-final 2: No. 2 Ottawa vs. No. 7 McMaster
17:00 Quarter-final 3: No. 4 StFX vs. No. 5 Concordia
19:00 Quarter-final 4: No. 1 Guelph vs. No. 8 Victoria
Friday, Nov. 4
17:00 Semifinal 1: Winner QF 1 vs. Winner QF 2
19:00 Semifinal 2: Winner QF 3 vs. Winner QF 4
Saturday, Nov. 5
12:00 Consolation 1: Loser QF 1 vs. Loser QF 2
14:00 Consolation 2: Loser QF 3 vs. Loser QF 4
Sunday, Nov. 6
11:00 Fifth place
13:00 Bronze medal
15:00 Championship final
