I'm disclosing my bias right now. Having played in and written about the OUA, I believe that the league is undervalued and underpublicized. That being said, there are some bloggers who do great jobs in terms of covering Ontario University sports. Always OUA is one site worthy of mention.
One recent post caught my eye given my history as a player with the Queen's women's soccer program (again- admitting bias). I've pasted it here, but the hyperlink is below if you want to visit the blog yourself.
"Just something I wanted to bring to everyone' attention re: this week's top 10s. Namely, HOW DO THE QUEEN'S GAELS WOMEN'S SOCCER TEAM SIT AT 7TH NATIONALLY?Let me explain.The Gaels women are currently ranked 7th in the nation. This is a problem. The Gaels record is currently, 8-1-1. Their loss and tie have come to a very good Toronto team, Loss at Varsity Stadium; Tie at Richardson Stadium. The Gaels sit at second in their division, trailing the #3 Ottawa Gee-Gees by one point, although it should be noted that Ottawa has played one more game. Moreover, Queen's defeated Ottawa in Ottawa. ON TOP OF THAT, they haven't given up a goal in 4 games. Now, just looking at OUA teams exclusively, Queen's has beaten Ottawa and trails them in the standings on the basis that Ottawa has one extra game on them. They have two bad games against a strong Toronto team and escape with a point from them both. Laurier is in the West Division of the OUA having played 8 games, and sits at 6-1-1. Yet, somehow Queen's ends up with less than half the votes these other teams have gotten. I will not dispute the out of conference teams listed as I am not familiar with their bodies of work. But given the state of the OUA, and how everything has broken down, surely the Gaels should get a bit more recognition."
The gaels definitely deserve some more recognition, but I say, let them rank however they want,its a solid team that is going to win nationals, rankings means nothing once playoffs and nationals start.
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree with Kenny on this one. Despite the Gaels under-valued success in the past, they continue to outperform very powerful teams, surprise us with their wit and endurance and very often come out with, at best, a mid-ranked title. Three years ago when the Gaels placed 2nd in Canada at the CIS Finals, they came into the tournament as the underdogs and had the satisfaciton of surprising quite a crowd of followers. The girls strenght and motivation pushed them through, despite the unfavourable draw and rankings.
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