CW Announces Scheduling Format Changes for 2024-25 Season
Through generations of U SPORTS soccer, Canada West has proven to be the pre-eminent conference for women’s soccer, particularly the Pacific Division, with the UBC Thunderbirds having won eight U SPORTS titles, (including this year’s Gladys Bean Memorial Trophy), the nation’s most. Canada West Universities Athletic Association members have approved scheduling format changes for multiple sports that will take effect starting in the 2024-25 season.
Scheduling format changes were approved in basketball, hockey, volleyball and women’s soccer, with the changes allowing for an increased emphasis on regional rivalries.
The following schedule format changes will be implemented for the 2024-25 Canada West season:
Women’s Soccer
• Two divisions with a 14-game schedule within each division
• Eight-team single elimination playoff format
Previously, the 2023 Canada West season allowed for 10 teams qualify for the playoffs, five from the Pacific Division and five from the Prairie. The fourth place hosts fifth place in a one-match play-in knockout game, with the winner advancing to play the top seed in the quarter-final.
The current 2023 men’s soccer playoff format, which sees the CW quarter-finals and semi-finals take place during Playoff Week 1 and the CW final take place during Playoff Week 2, was approved for the 2024 season.
Sources: https://canadawest.org/general/2023-24/releases/schedulingformatchanges202425
BREAKDOWN: League 1 BC powers U SPORTS Canada West Pacific Division
https://usports.ca/en/sports/soccer/f/news/2023/11/2041215167/wsoc-gold