The Portage College Voyageurs women’s soccer team played a scrimmage game on August 5 against the Ambrose University Lions. The two teams played at the Bold Centre sports fields in Lac La Biche. The scrimmage was a chance for both squads to gel with new teammates prior to the official start of the 2026/27 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference season later this month.
Game photos:
Images from the women’s scrimmage with Ambrose on the Portage College Flickr Page
Calgary-based Ambrose plays in the southern division of the ACAC women’s soccer conference, while the Voyageurs are in the northern conference.
Voyageurs head coach Macky Singh says the meeting was a great opportunity for coaching staff to get an early appraisal of player skills, and for players – especially new, first-year arrivals to get a feel for college-level competition.
“The scrimmage and exhibition games let us evaluate team and player roles in a more relaxed environment. We can look at our team members as individual players and look at our team dynamic as a whole,” says Singh, who has been the college’s soccer program bench boss since 2024. “The players also build on their relationships with each other and with their coaching staff.”
With 10 new recruits on the 15-player women’s squad, Singh says his preliminary take-away from the first exhibition scrimmage is promising.
“We have some strong talent that we can attribute to a strong recruitment process in the off-season. “We have a lot of new faces, which means there will be some foundational work ahead of us – but overall, we are looking forward to a season of growth and team-building.”
The women’s team will play four exhibition games over the next three weeks, leading up to their ACAC regular season home opener at the Bold Centre sports fields on Sunday, August 30 against the Concordia Thunder.
Exhibition home games
Upcoming exhibition games include a Sunday, August 16 tilt against Manitoba’s Universite Ste. Boniface, and a Tuesday, August 18 matchup with Lethbridge Polytechnic. Both of those home games have a 2 pm start and are open to the public. A Friday, August 21 game against Lakeland College will begin at 4 pm at Bonnyville’s Walsh Field. The Sunday, August 30 exhibition game against the University of Augustana gets underway at noon at the Bold Centre fields.
The Portage Voyageurs men’s soccer team also has a roster of mostly new faces. Their exhibition game schedule mirrors the women, playing their men’s teams rivals from Ste. Boniface, Lethbridge and Lakeland college after the women’s games.
“It’s a busy lead-up to the regular season,” says Singh, “and a great way for our teams to be running at full steam when the official season begins.”