A set of University of Calgary women’s soccer uniforms was stolen ahead of the team’s appearance at the national championship starting Thursday.
Head coach Troye Flannery said the jerseys were in a player’s car that was stolen sometime late Sunday evening or early Monday morning.
The Dinos claimed their first Canada West title since 2005 Saturday with a 1-0 win over the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in Edmonton.
Calgary opens the U Sports championship Thursday in Victoria against the host Vikes.
It’s a tradition on the team that a standout player is nominated to take uniforms home and launder them, Flannery said.
Forward Kelsie MacDonald discovered her car was gone Monday morning, and with it a bag of 27 white jerseys and two sets of goalkeeper equipment.
“I think she’s more concerned about the uniforms than her little red Mazda,” Flannery said.
Nike team uniform distributor T. Litzen is rushing to ship replacement gear to Victoria for the Dinos and the team has a set of red jerseys, Flannery said, although he’d still like to get the bag back.
“I’d love it back,” he said. “There’s a meeting that kicks off the tournament when you hold up your uniform.
“It’s a bit of a production. Numbers and so forth are all matched to stats. It seems silly but there is a bit of a process with respect to the uniforms at that level.”
The large black bag with wheels and a handle is trimmed in neon green and covered with the Dinos logo.
“Obviously the uniforms are branded heavy with our school logos and the league logos,” the coach said. “They’re somewhere. You’re not going to do much with those.
“I suspect we might get them back.”
The U Sports women’s soccer championship field also includes the OUA champion York Lions and runner-up Toronto Varsity Blues, Atlantic conference champion Cape Breton Capers and finalist Acadia Axewomen, Quebec champion Montreal Carabins, Canada West finalist UBC and the host Vikes.
The championship game is Sunday.
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