Can Anyone Stop UBC? Three BC Teams Set for U Sports Women’s Soccer Championship in Vancouver
UBC is looking for a third title in four years, hosting the tournament in Vancouver for the first time since 2015.
For the first time in over a decade, the U Sports women’s soccer championship is taking over UBC’s Thunderbird Stadium, bringing the best of Canadian university soccer, along with Northern Super League prospects and international talent, to the West Coast.
It marks the first time since Victoria hosted in 2019 that the championship tournament will be held in BC, and the first time it will be held at UBC since 2015, featuring a trio of BC teams: the UBC Thunderbirds, Thompson Rivers Wolfpack and Trinity Western Spartans. Here's everything you need to know as a BC soccer fan.
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View post ↗Can UBC Thunderbirds Win Three Titles in Four Years?
The Thunderbirds enter the tournament as the top seed and in the hunt for their 10th national title as the country’s most successful U Sports women’s soccer program. Under head coach Jesse Symons for 11 years, the team has won three U Sports titles, most recently lifting the championship in 2023 and 2024 with extra-time gold-medal wins over the TWU Spartans in Kingston, Ont., and Laval Rouge et Or in Halifax, N.S.
Last season, UBC advanced to the national final for the third straight year, but fell 1-0 to the high-powered Montreal Carabins.
The star core players from those teams are still around and leading the way.
Dynamic attacker Bailey Doerksen scored in the Canada West final win over the TRU Wolfpack last week and had five goals and six assists this season. She was among the country’s best rookies in 2023 and has only improved since.
The 2024 tournament MVP, Sienna Gibson, also scored in last week’s Canada West final and has played plenty of high-stakes soccer lately, representing Canada at the U20 World Cup earlier in the fall.
Yet the outright leader is Maddy Norman, who netted 16 goals and 11 assists in 15 games to earn Canada West Player of the Year honours, making the most of her switch to a more central attacking role after years on the wing.
The expectation for UBC each season is to win a national championship. Undefeated through this season, they hope to do just that, as they did in 2015 on home soil.
“I think [nationals] is about just sticking to our principles, like the responsibilities that we've held on to throughout the whole season,” Gibson told Sports Page BC after the Canada West final. “But also just having fun, leaving everything out on the field. I think today, everyone was just having so much fun while you were playing, and that’s huge for us; we’re really enjoying ourselves.”
UBC’s tournament begins with a rematch of the 2024 final against the Laval Rouge et Or, but the Thunderbirds will be favoured in front of a projected crowd of over 3,000 fans, with a potential semifinal against Dalhousie Tigers or Guelph Gryphons awaiting. Should they face Dalhousie, Gibson would play against her recent World Cup coach, Cindy Tye, who manages both the Tigers and Canada's U20s.
Thompson Rivers Make Tournament Debut, Looking to Follow in Men’s Footsteps
The TRU Wolfpack didn’t shed a tear after their Canada West Final loss last week to UBC, having secured a Canada West silver medal for the first time and, with it, a ticket to make their national tournament debut.
This week, they enter as underdogs compared to more experienced programmes and hope to replicate the success of their men’s program from 2022, when it made its debut and took home the national title, albeit on home soil.
While they enter without national championship experience, the Wolfpack didn’t waver against UBC this season, battling the No. 1-ranked Thunderbirds to a 1-1 regular-season draw before a 3-1 loss in the final, which featured a stellar free-kick strike from Esi Lufo.
Outside of Lufo, who netted five goals and two assists in Canada West this season, the team is led by first-year Allison Hill and Dutch goalkeeper, Floor Usem.
All will face massive tests as the team enters as the No. 7 seed, after what head coach Mark Pennington called the “wrong process” in seeding the bracket, which sees them open against Québec champions Montreal Carabins, who have conceded just once this season.
“The way we’re looking at it and framing it, hey, bring them on,” Pennington told CJFC’s Marty Hastings. “We’re not there to roll over and have our bellies tickled; we’re there to compete and to upset a whole bunch of people and to continue to put our school and our programme on the map.”
Should the Wolfpack hand the Carabins a first loss of 2026, they would play either the Ontario champion Ottawa Gee-Gees or Canada West rival TWU Spartans in the semifinal.
Trinity Western Aim for Final Return
The Spartans are no strangers to the U Sports championship, having been in every tournament since 2021 and advancing to the final in 2023, where they fell to UBC in extra time.
This year, they’re in familiar surroundings, aiming to land on the national podium for the second year in a row, after earning bronze medals alongside Laval in 2025, when intense snowfall forced last year’s bronze-medal clash in Hamilton, Ont., to be cancelled.
Led by head coach Graham Roxburgh, the Spartans will lean on Sophie Crowther and Mansha Sidhu, who both posted 11 goal contributions through the regular season, as well as Luciana Andrews, who had five shots in the Canada West bronze-medal game victory that secured their spot at this year’s tournament.
Finding consistency will be key for the Spartans, who face a challenging road as the No. 6 seed, taking on the Ontario champion Ottawa Gee-Gees before a potential clash with the Carabins or Wolfpack.
"We've had a really weird season. We've played really well at times, like we did [in the Canada West bronze medal game], and then gave up some untimely weird goals or missed chances that probably meant we should have won and finished higher up the table. So we've been the makers of our own doing, honestly,” Roxburgh said after clinching a national berth.
“We have to be better, but I can't say enough about the courage of our kids. To give up a goal like that late, when we should be winning, to come back and find the momentum again, and the desire and the belief. I coach great kids."
How to Watch and Follow the U Sports Women’s Soccer Championship
Fans across the globe can watch the 2026 U Sports Women’s Soccer Championship on CBC Gem and the CBC Sports digital platforms, with play-by-play provided by Vancouver-based soccer commentator and Away From the Numbers managing editor Michael McColl.
For those looking to attend the tournament, tickets remain available here, with all four quarterfinals set for Thursday, semifinals on Friday, and medal games on Sunday.
