Sports

It's a big weekend ahead for a number of UBC-Okanagan sports teams, including the second last homestand in the PACWEST soccer season for the Heat and both the men's and women's basketball teams hitting the road in pre-season action.

Photo: Contributed - Darren Handschuh

The UBCO Heat women's soccer team hopes to clinch a playoff berth this weekend.

On the pitch this weekend the Women’s Soccer team, currently ranked 8th nationally, have just four games remaining, all of them at home.

Despite the high ranking, the squad is still battling for playoff positioning as they sit in third place (4W-1L-5T) in the PACWEST standings.

On Saturday at 1:00 p.m., they host second place Langara (6W-3L-1T) at the Nonis Sports Field, needing a win to move ahead of the Falcons. In their previous meeting this season in Vancouver, the Falcons and Heat played to a 2-2 draw.

Then on Sunday at 12:00 p.m., the Quest University Kermodes (4W-4L-2T) will come to Kelowna.

The Kermodes and Heat enter the weekend tied on points and with Quest hoping to avenge their 3-0 loss to UBCO in Squamish on September 16.

The men’s squad faces a more desperate situation as they need to win their final four games to have any chance at making the postseason.

The Heat (0W-6L-4T) open against the Langara Falcons (5W-4L-1T) on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. The Heat played Langara to a 1-1 draw in Vancouver in their first matchup of the season. The following day the winless Quest Kermodes (0W-8L-2T) will visit the UBC-Okanagan campus to face the Heat.

The UBC-Okanagan Heat Men’s Basketball team are on the road to compete in the Calgary Cup this weekend.

The tournament opens Thursday night with UBCO taking on the Brock Badgers from St. Catharines, Ontario, starting at 5:00 p.m.

The Heat are guaranteed three games during the event, which also features the Universities of Calgary, Mount Royal, Windsor, Western, Saskatchewan, and SAIT.

The men's squad is unbeaten in preseason play, but the will be getting their first taste of CIS competition this weekend.

The women’s basketball team will get a good look at their first Canada West opponent this weekend as well, when they head to Victoria for a pair of games. The Vikings will host the Heat November 2 and 3 in the season opener.

The Heat are winless in two preseason games this year.

Also this weekend, the men’s and women’s cross country teams will head back to Puget Sound just two weeks after a good showing in Tacoma at a race at Pacific Lutheran University.

This Saturday the women will run in the 6 km event and the men in the 8 km during the Emerald City Open at Seattle University.