Ontario University Athletics (OUA) released the fall schedules for football and soccer on Wednesday, announcing that the annual Panda Game between Carleton University and the University of Ottawa will take place on Oct. 2.
Carleton women’s and men’s soccer will launch their seasons on Sept. 24 with games against the Queen’s University Golden Gaels, with the men’s team looking for its third consecutive OUA title.
Carleton will open the football season at home on Sept. 18 against Queen’s with the OUA championship slated for Nov. 20.
The OUA’s return to play will be the first game action in the association since March 2020 after the cancellation of all 2020-21 university sports. The 2021 Panda Game will be the first football matchup between Carleton and uOttawa since 2019.
“The gridiron has gone without game action for nearly two years,” the OUA said in a statement. “Kicking off on September 18, OUA football makes a triumphant return to the field.”
The football regular season, normally eight games per school over a nine-week span, has been reduced to six games over a seven-week span as part of a new league structure announced by the OUA last week.
The changes, which aim to reduce cross-regional travel, will split OUA football into eastern and western divisions. Men’s and women’s soccer will add a division and reduce the season to 10 games.
“The approved league and championship formats … have been developed with key principles that keep the health and safety of all OUA participants at the forefront,” the OUA said in the statement.
Because of the divisional realignments, the Carleton Ravens and uOttawa Gee-Gees football teams will play each other twice — once on Oct. 2 and again on Oct. 28. Before this year’s changes, the teams only matched up once per season.
The OUA also announced the 2021 field hockey and rugby schedule, both of which will begin Sept. 24. Carleton does not have a varsity field hockey team and its women’s rugby team competes in the Réseau du Sport Étudiant du Québec (RSEQ), the Quebec university athletics association. RSEQ has yet to announce its fall sports schedules.
The OUA said all schedules for the 2021-22 season remain subject to change based on updates to COVID-19 public health guidelines.
Featured image from file.
