An opening win will go a long way for both University of Victoria soccer programs as they compete in Canada West conference championships this week.

Bruce Wilson’s men’s team needs a victory Friday at 5 p.m. versus Trinity Western at the Final Four at UBC to qualify for nationals, as the top two finishers press on to the CIS championship in Toronto next week.

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Tracy David’s women’s team is in a more complicated Select Six Canada West tournament in Saskatoon, beginning today. But a win against the Calgary Dinos at 9 a.m. would propel them into a semifinal matchup with the UBC T-Birds. Those T-Birds are hosting nationals which means an extra berth is on the line for Canada West, so the top three teams will advance to the CIS finals in Vancouver.

“It’s a must-win for us,” David said of the opener against Calgary (the two teams played to a 0-0 draw in the regular season). “Three of the final four are going to nationals, which makes that bronze-medal game very important. We have to get through this first game.”

Trinity Western will face MacEwan in the other matchup today, with that winner taking on Saskatchewan in the semifinals on Saturday.

Wilson’s crew, meanwhile, will have some confidence going into its game.

“We’ve done well against Trinity, in both games this year, which is a little bit worrisome, to be honest. When you’ve had your way with a team in two games, home and away, you just hope that your team does not take them too lightly,” he said of 5-1 and 1-0 wins over Trinity Western.

Fraser Valley meets UBC at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the second semifinal. The semifinal winners will square off on Saturday at 7:30 for the Canada West title.

“We have to play well at the back. We want to keep the sheet clean,” said Wilson. “I think the biggest mistake against Trinity would be to give up that first goal. It would be very difficult to come back on them because I think they would drop a lot of people back.”