Sanders named Honorary Chair of CIS women’s soccer championship

WOLFVILLE, N.S. - Former Acadia soccer coach and Sports Hall of Fame member Laura Sanders has been named Honorary Chairperson for the CIS women's soccer championships at Acadia University Nov. 10-13, 2016. 

A New Brunswick native, Sanders arrived at Acadia in 1984 to coach women's varsity basketball and soccer. She would continue to coach both basketball and soccer at Acadia for 20 seasons and although her basketball teams were competitive, her greatest success would come on the soccer pitch.

The Axettes were perennially among the best teams in Canada during the 1980s and '90s, with Acadia winning five consecutive conference titles, from 1987 to 1991, another one in 1996, and a national title in 1990 that stands as Acadia's first CIAU women's soccer crown. Sanders was named CIAU coach-of-the-year in 1990 and was AUAA coach-of-the-year six times.

"Laura Sanders instilled in her teams a strong sense of hard work and dedication that obviously translated into tremendous success on the soccer pitch," says Kevin Dickie, Director of Athletics at Acadia. "Her commitment to developing young talent here at Acadia and in the greater community speaks volumes, and her remarkable achievements at the conference and national levels illustrate a passion for the game that, in my opinion, is unparalleled. She is also an outstanding and inspirational example of what our program here at Acadia is all about, and I'm delighted that she has been named Honorary Chairperson for this year's CIS women's soccer national championship at Acadia."

Acadia last hosted the CIS women's soccer championship in 2000 and did so prior in 1989, winning bronze.

For more on Acadia University, please visit: http://www2.acadiau.ca.

To learn more about the CIS women's soccer championships, visit: http://en.cis-sic.ca/championships/wsoc/index .