The rivalry continues.
The Nipissing Lakers and Laurentian Voyageurs will begin the latest chapter in their head-to-head showdown and battle for Northern Ontario, as they kickoff both the Riley Gallo Cup and the 705 Challenge Cup this weekend, with women's and men's soccer hitting the pitch.
The Lakers will host the first leg of the Riley Gallo Cup Friday night, with the second leg going Sunday afternoon in Sudbury.
The Lakers and Vees enter the weekend going in different directions early in the OUA seasons, with the Lakers women's team sitting at 2-1-1 and the men's team at 2-1-0.
The Vees, on the other hand, have a record of 0-2-2 on the women's side and 0-2-1 on the men's side.
Friday's games are set for 5pm kickoff for the women, followed by a 7:15pm start for the men – both at the Education Centre Field located on the Nipissing University Campus.
About the Riley Gallo Cup
The tradition continues with the two teams, which began in 2008, in memory of Riley and for all those children who have been diagnosed and survived cancer and for those like Riley who lost their battle with cancer.
The Riley Gallo Cup is a trophy given to the school that earns the most points in the four games these teams play, and is to commemorate the life of Laurentian women's soccer head coach Rob Gallo's son, Riley, who passed away from cancer in 2002 at the age of five.
This is a competition that goes beyond the teams and schools. It is a competition for children to win the battle against cancer.
About the 705 Challenge Cup
What do you do when you and your closest neighbouring institution play head-to-head in spirited and highly competitive competitions throughout the year in three sports and over 10 times per year? You up the ante a little more! The Nipissing Lakers and Laurentian Voyageurs have done just that with the creation of the 705 Challenge Cup.
The two northern universities have long been adversaries on the soccer pitch, competing yearly for the Riley Gallo Cup, named for the late son of Laurentian women's soccer coach Rob Gallo, but with the addition of men's and women's basketball and hockey to both schools in recent years, the timing was right to build on the friendly Northern rivalry.
The 705 Challenge Cup will be comprised of all regular season games between the Lakers and the Voyageurs in the sports of men's and women's basketball, hockey and soccer. The soccer teams will still compete for the coveted 'Riley Gallo Cup,' but those games will also be included in the overall scoring for the '705 Challenge Cup'.
The scoring each year for the new hardware will consist of the overall win-loss record between the two institutions. In the event of a tie in the head-to-head record, plus-minus will be used as a tie-breaker. One caveat to the plus-minus calculation will be dividing the point differential of the basketball games by 10. This will ensure that, for example, a potential 20 point win by one team only counts as +/- 2 and does not skew the overall calculation.
The Challenge continues…
Date Sport Away Home Time/Result
Friday, Sept. 7, 2018 WSOC Laurentian Nipissing 5:00 PM
Friday, Sept. 7, 2018 MSOC Laurentian Nipissing 7:15 PM
Sunday, Sep. 9, 2018 WSOC Nipissing Laurentian 12:00 PM
Sunday, Sept. 9, 2018 MSOC Nipissing Laurentian 2:15 PM
Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2018 MHKY Nipissing Laurentian 7:30 PM
Friday, Oct. 26, 2018 WBB Nipissing Laurentian 6:00 PM
Friday, Oct. 26, 2018 MBB Nipissing Laurentian 8:00 PM
Wed., Oct. 31, 2018 MHKY Nipissing Laurentian 7:35 PM
Friday, Nov. 2, 2018 WHKY Laurentian Nipissing 7:30 PM
Sunday, Nov. 25, 2018 WHKY Nipissing Laurentian 2:00 PM
Friday, Jan. 4, 2019 MHKY Nipissing Laurentian 7:35 PM
Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019 MHKY Nipissing Laurentian 7:35 PM
Friday, Feb. 1, 2019 MBB Laurentian Nipissing 8:00 PM
Friday, Feb. 1, 2019 WBB Laurentian Nipissing 6:00 PM
Past Winners
2016-17 - Laurentian Voyageurs (8-4)
2017-18 - Laurentian Voyageurs (9-5)
