Winnipeg Wesmen women’s soccer program benched

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This article was published 17/01/2025 (244 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The University of Winnipeg is benching female soccer players for the upcoming season as administrators navigate “significant financial challenges.”

University president Todd Mondor informed the campus community of the cost-cutting measures Tuesday.

The women’s soccer program is being suspended in 2025. There is no men’s team.

Mondor said administrators will work with affected Winnipeg Wesmen athletes to support them.

While calling the decisions “regrettable,” he said they are necessary as part of a broader effort to find cost savings so the post-secondary institute can continue to provide high-quality education.

“Losing a university soccer team is a huge blow to the development of women’s soccer in Manitoba,” goalkeeper Camille Forbes told the Free Press.

Forbes, a graduate student who has a soccer scholarship, has been participating in weekly training sessions to prepare for the summer season; Wesmen soccer typically runs from late August to October.

The 27-year-old said the hiatus, which was announced to players during a morning team meeting on Tuesday, came as a shock.

Captain Sydney Arnold echoed that sentiment, saying she and her peers were “blindsided,” especially given the team hosted a recruitment camp just before Christmas.

“We were progressing. Our team was getting better, even though the results didn’t (necessarily) show it,” the defender said, adding the women secured one win and a tie in the fall, during what the 21-year-old had believed to be her penultimate season.

The only varsity sports programs that remain intact at U of W are basketball and volleyball.

“Cancellations reverberate across our campus community. Morale, I think it’s fair to say, is already low given the previous cuts and the ongoing freeze in hiring,” faculty association president Peter Miller said.

Miller said the latest cuts call into question the Manitoba government’s funding model and raise concerns about provincial support not keeping pace with inflation.

Earlier in the school year, senior administration issued a directive to halt hiring and reduce all departments’ non-salary account lines by seven per cent for the remainder of the fiscal year ending March 31.

Fall meeting minutes show the university was projecting $4 million to $5 million in tuition losses for 2024-25 linked to the federal government’s cap on international student enrolment.

Hector Vergara, executive director of the Manitoba Soccer Association, called the announcement “disappointing” for players — some of whom might have enrolled or transferred elsewhere if they had known the Wesmen’s fall soccer season would be cancelled — and the sports community at large.

High-level competitions keep students active and help train referees, Vergara said.

He noted the roster of active post-secondary school teams has shrunk in recent years while overall participation in soccer is growing in Manitoba.

“In some areas, we have more players playing the game now, especially at the younger ages, and it’s just a matter of keeping these players,” he said, adding numbers have rebounded since a 2020 drop in registrations because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

U of W spokeswoman Cheryl Parisien said no one was available for an interview.

“UWinnipeg is prioritizing using its limited financial resources to support the core academic and research functions of the university,” Parisien said in an email.

The university did not provide an updated deficit projection.

Advanced Education Minister Renée Cable urged the university to reconsider its decision to cut such an important sports program.

“Our government continues to work with post-secondary institutions to ensure they are supported, which includes a 20 per cent funding increase to U of W just last year,” Cable said in a statement.

The minister noted she’s asked her department to follow up with the post-secondary institute.

The cost-cutting measures also included shuttering the school’s English Language Program.

» The Winnipeg Free Press