Going For Gold

#3 VIU Mariners @ #1 Douglas Royals – Sunday October 29, 5:15pm | WATCH HERE

PACWEST supremacy is up for grabs on Sunday when the Royals and Mariners meet on the pitch for the Conference gold medal.  It’s a rematch of last year’s semi-final that the Mariners won 2-0.

Regardless of the outcome both teams know they will represent the PACWEST at the CCAA National championship in Windsor, Ontario.  The PACWEST receives a wildcard, therefore has two berths into the tournament.

The Royals earned a bye into the gold medal game after finishing with the best record during the regular season.  The Mariners on the other hand needed to beat the Langara Falcons in Saturday’s semi, which they did 1-0 on the strength of a first-half penalty kick.

During the regular season the teams split their four games, the Royals winning the first two, the Mariners the last couple including a 3-2 win last weekend to conclude the season. They have proved to be very even, each scoring eight goals against the other, so the backline and keepers will need to be sharp.

These two schools met in the gold medal game in 2019 and 2021 with the Royals winning both times.  As a matter of fact, the Royals and Mariners have met five times in this gold medal game, and Royals have won all five meetings.   That said, the Mariners are the defending PACWEST champions and have no intention of giving up that title, so Sunday’s game will be very entertaining.

Head-to-Head

Records: Mariners 4-7-1 – Royals 7-3-2
Goals For: Mariners 15 – Royals 24
Goals Allowed: Mariners 22 – Royals 15  

Leading Scorers: Vasilios Bagiopoulos – 5 (Mariners) – Dominik Hajdecki – 10 goals (Royals)