UOIT women’s soccer team now among Canada’s top 10

For the first time in the history of the varsity athletics program at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), one of the Ridgeback teams has made it to the top 10 in the national rankings.

Thanks to an impressive start to the regular season, officials with Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) have ranked the Ridgebacks’ women’s soccer team No. 9 in Canada. The milestone for UOIT comes in the CIS’ third list of the season of top 10 universities (for the week ended September 14, 2014).

“This is a very proud day for our coaches and student-athletes who have collectively worked very hard to earn this place among Canada’s best,” said Scott Barker, Manager, Intercollegiate Sports, UOIT Athletics and Recreation. “The women’s soccer team is off to an outstanding start this season. This is an exciting milestone for our varsity programs and the university as a whole.”

• Link to UOIT Ridgebacks website

In their first five games of the 2014 campaign, the Ridgebacks’ women’s soccer team has earned four victories and a draw.

“We are very excited about the program’s accomplishments, which included our first playoff game victory last fall,” said Head Coach Peyvand Mossavat, who was also recently named Canadian Women’s Soccer Head Coach for the 2015 Summer Universiade in Gwangju, Korea. “Making the CIS top 10 is a great milestone, but there is still a lot of work to be done in order to reach our goals for the 2014 season.”

The women’s soccer team will head north this weekend for games at Laurentian (Sudbury) and Nipissing (North Bay). The team’s next home game is Saturday, September 27 at 1 p.m. when the Ridgebacks host the Queen’s Gaels at Vaso’s Field during UOIT’s 2014 Homecoming Weekend celebrations.