OTTAWA – The Montreal Carabins are the new team to beat in CIS men’s soccer.

Montreal (1-0-1), national bronze medalist a year ago, moves up two spots in the third coaches poll of the campaign to leapfrog both the defending CIS champion York Lions (1-1) and the 2008 CIS finalist Trinity Western Spartans (1-0-1), ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the first two polls of the season.

Montreal opened conference play in Quebec last weekend with a 2-1 win over McGill and a 2-2 draw against Concordia. The Carabins had last reached No. 1 in the Top 10 in October of 2006, when they remained in first place for two weeks.

Meanwhile, York was upset 1-0 by Brock in its OUA opener last Saturday, before rebounding on Sunday with a 1-0 shutout of McMaster. Out West, Trinity Western kicked off conference play on the road defeating Saskatchewan 3-1 and tying the Alberta Golden Bears 1-1.

Alberta (1-0-1) is one of three new teams making their way into the Top 10 this week, at No. 7, along with No. 8-Queen’s (2-0-1) and No. 10-UNB (1-0-1).

Rounding out the men’s soccer poll are No. 4-Victoria (2-0), No. 5-Dalhousie (1-0), No. 6-Laval (0-1) and No. 9-Carleton (2-1-1).

In women’s soccer, CIS coaches voted the reigning national champion Trinity Western Spartans (2-0) at No. 1 for the third time in three weeks, with 2008 CIS bronze medalist Montreal (2-0), Victoria (1-0) and defending CIS finalist Brock (2-0) following in order, also for the third consecutive week.

The Spartans claimed a pair of one-goal victories on the road on opening weekend, edging Saskatchewan 3-2 and Alberta 1-0.

Rounding out the new rankings are No. 5-Wilfrid Laurier (2-0), No. 6-Ottawa (3-0-2), No. 7-Cape Breton (1-0-1), No. 8-UBC (1-0-1), as well as No. 9-Laval (2-0) and No. 10-Sherbrooke (2-0), both unranked a week ago.

In women’s rugby, the two-time defending CIS champion Lethbridge Pronghorns hold on to first place in the second poll of the fall.

The top six positions remain unchanged this week with the 2008 national finalist StFX X-Women (0-0), 2008 CIS bronze medalist Guelph Gryphons (1-0), Laval Rouge et Or (1-0), Alberta Pandas (0-0) and Western Ontario Mustangs (1-0) following in order.

The Horns (0-0), who won’t kick off conference play until Sept. 26, edged StFX 17-12 last Sunday as part of a pre-season tour in the Maritimes.

No. 3-Guelph, No. 4-Laval and No. 6-Western were all victorious in their regular-season debuts last weekend. The Gryphons crushed Laurier 90-0, the Rouge et Or dominated Sherbrooke 111-5, while the Mustangs beat Brock 34-15.

Rounding out the new Top 10 are No. 7-Concordia (1-0), No. 8-McMaster (1-0), No. 9-UBC (0-0) and No. 10-Queen’s (1-0).

WOMEN’S RUGBY

(regular season record) / (votes) / (previous rankings)

1. Lethbridge (0-0) / 119 points / (1)

2. StFX (0-0) / 96 / (2)

3. Guelph (1-0) / 91 / (3)

4. Laval (1-0) / 77 / (4)

5. Alberta (0-0) / 61 / (5)

6. Western Ontario (1-0) / 52 / (6)

7. Concordia (1-0) / 43 / (8)

8. McMaster (1-0) / 34 / (7)

9. UBC (0-0) / 19 / (10)

10. Queen’s (1-0) / 16 / (NR)

Other teams receiving votes:  Brock (6), Ottawa (1), Trent (1).

WOMEN’S SOCCER

(regular season record) / (votes) / (previous rankings)

1. Trinity Western (2-0-0) / 49 points / (1)

2. Montreal (2-0-0) / 44 / (2)

3. Victoria (1-0-0) / 37 / (3)

4. Brock (2-0-0) / 36 / (4)

5. Wilfrid Laurier (2-0-0) / 30 / (6)

6. Ottawa (3-0-2) / 29 / (5)

7. Cape Breton (1-0-1) / 14 / (7)

8. UBC (1-0-1) / 13 / (8)

9. Laval (2-0-0) / 8 / (NR)

10. Sherbrooke (2-0-0) / 5 / (NR)

Others teams receiving votes: McGill, Dalhousie, Toronto, Mount Allison, Manitoba.

MEN’S SOCCER

(regular season record) / points / (previous rankings)

1. Montreal (1-0-1) / 47 points / (3)

2. York (1-1-0) / 41 / (1)

3. Trinity Western (1-0-1) / 37 / (2)

4. Victoria (2-0-0) / 36 / (6)

5. Dalhousie (1-0-0) / 32 / (5)

6. Laval (0-1-0) / 16 / (4)

7. Alberta (1-0-1) / 15 / (NR)

8. Queen’s (2-0-1) / 12 / (NR)

9. Carleton (2-1-1) / 10 / (9)

10. UNB (1-0-1) / 9 / (NR)

Other teams receiving votes: UQAM (4), Western Ontario (4), UBC (3), Guelph (3), Toronto (3), Brock (2), Laurentian (1).

About Canadian Interuniversity Sport

Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-two universities, 10,000 student-athletes and 550 coaches vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.universitysport.ca.