Jefferson Hagen / MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – If the Canada West women's soccer playoffs began today, there is a very real possibility we could get a rematch of the excellent Sept. 15 cross-town rivalry game between MacEwan and Alberta, with the loser facing elimination.
MacEwan (7-4-1) – who beat Alberta 1-0 in that contest – currently sits fourth in the Pacific Division. If that stands, it would mean they would open the playoffs against the fifth seed in the Prairie Division (currently 4-6-2 Lethbridge) on the home turf of the top seed in the Prairie (currently 8-2-2 Alberta, who play on Foote Field). The winner would then face Alberta the following day for the right to advance to the Canada West Final Four.
Of course, all of that is theoretical until the final weekend of regular season play is in the books on Sunday.
And MacEwan is still alive, albeit barely, for one of the top two seeds in the Pacific Division, which earns the holders the right to host an opening-round playoff weekend, complete with a bye past the first game.
The Griffins can't catch 10-2 Trinity Western (TWU) for the top seed, but they do sit just five points behind 8-1-3 Victoria for the No. 2 slot. UBC (7-2-3) is two points up on MacEwan. All three teams hold the tiebreaker on them.
To earn a first-round bye, the Griffins would need Victoria to lose both of their final two games (vs. TWU and UFV), have UBC lose at least one of their final two (vs. UFV and TWU) and win their final two contests – at UBC-Okanagan (1-9-2) on Saturday (Noon, MT, Canada West TV) and at Thompson Rivers (3-8-1) on Sunday (1 p.m. MT, Canada West TV).
The latter part of the accomplishment might be the least daunting – they blasted those teams by a combined score of 10-2 to open the season last month. At the very least, it's the only part of the equation they can control.
"All we can control is what we do, so we're going to be ready to go," said Griffins head coach Dean Cordeiro. "We know both UBCO and TRU are much improved since the start of the year and we're playing on their home field, so we've got to be ready to play our game.
"We're trending upward, we're doing a lot of things right and we're excited about our final regular season games. But we're taking it one game at a time."
This weekend of action in the Okanagan was supposed to have been played in Edmonton, but due to inclement air quality from the B.C. wildfires lingering into September, MacEwan hosted UBCO and TRU on the season's opening weekend instead. That scheduling switch has put the Griffins on the road for the final four games of the season.
"It's harder, but I think it also brings the group closer together because we're spending more time together," said Cordeiro. "I think it's important and you need to be prepared for that potentially on the road when it comes to playoff time.
"If anything, there could be some positives pulled out it that we're going to be around each other a little bit more at a crucial part of the season."
MacEwan comes into the weekend off a 1-1 draw at Winnipeg and 1-0 win over Manitoba on their last road trip.
UBCO, meanwhile, is coming in after winning their first game of the season – a 1-0 victory over Lethbridge – which gives them an outside shot at catching the sixth and final playoff spot in the Pacific Division.
"So they're playing for, in essence, their playoff lives," said Cordeiro. "We need to understand there's a little bit of desperation and if we're not at our best, UBCO's a quality side that can steal points."
TRU is just one point behind UNBC for the final spot, a team they'll play on Saturday, so they potentially could be coming into Sunday's game needing a win to secure a post-season berth.
In other words, the Griffins can't take anything for granted.
"If we take care of our business, we know every point, every win we can accumulate this weekend is going to likely set us up better for playoffs, so all we can control is doing our part and we'll see what happens with the rest of the table," said Cordeiro.
