It's playoff time and two brotherly rivals are ready for it, despite the snow on the ground.

The Providence Pilots and the CMU Blazers are getting ready for a busy weekend of soccer as they look to take the championship, both taking slightly different roads.

Both the men and women Pilots teams finished first in their division and had players claim the player of the week honors.

The Pilots women had a poor start to the season with three straight losses. But after that, they had six wins and one draw to finish first.

"Our girls are a determined group and we proved to the league that we are one of the best teams," said Tory Walker, head coach of the women's team.

Their semi-final game on Saturday is against the Brandon University Bobcats. Although the Bobcats were fourth in the division, all the women's teams finished within four points of each other.

"I think it will be a tight game," Walker acknowledged. "I think our girls will be up to the task.

Courtney Engel is the Pilots central midfielder and claimed MCAC player of the week to finish the regular season. 

"We have a really strong team," Engel, a social science major at Providence, said. "If we keep playing our game, I think we can do very well,"

The guys soccer team for Providence had a simpler road to the top, only losing one game and drawing one more, which game against the CMU Blazers this past weekend.

"We had a pretty strong year and I have a lot of strong players," said Joey Passi, head coach for the team. "It's been a fun season."

Passi said part of the fun has been meshing a lot of new faces from many different places. There are men from Jordan, Paraguay, Ecuador and Nigeria on the team.

There is also a player from Columbia. Juan Lafaurie is the Pilots striker and lead the MCAC in scoring with 11 goals in 10 games. It's been a great transition for him.

"The cultures are really different," Lafaurie noted. "I noticed when I was new on the team, everyone really cared about me."

Lafaurie is ready to take his Pilots team into the playoffs after winning player of the week.

"I'm happy, I'm confident and I want to win," he said.

He will have to get used to the new coating that they have put on the field. It's white and typically called snow.

"First time I've seen snow in my life," Lafaurie laughed.

The Pilots will face off against the Blazers again in their semi-final matchup on Saturday. They drew them in their last game, but beat the Blazers 4-1 earlier in the season.

Russell Willms is excited for the Pilots and Blazers faceoff. Now the coach of the Blazer's men's team, he first got his start in coaching at Providence.

"I'm actually a Providence alumni myself, so it's a neat little personal matchup," Willms laughed.

The Blazers will be hosting the MCAC playoffs at the Ralph Cantafio Soccer Complex on Waverley Street. Willms is excited for the weekend.

"The weather should be amazing," he joked.

The men's teams will battle October 28 at 2:15 p.m. on the John Scouras Field with the winner advancing to the finals on Sunday.

The women will be playing at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. The Blazers will battle the University of Saint-Boniface on the John Scouras Field while the Pilots take on the Bobcats on Field 2.

The MCAC All-Conference teams were announced as well. Cara Isaak and Lianna Bestvater won women's soccer coaches of the year for the Blazers and Passi took home the award for the men.

Marijka Yaschyshyn (Blazers), Camille Plett (Blazers), and Julika Phommarath (Pilots) were named to the Women's All-Conference Team. Branden Owen (Pilots), Herby Magny (Pilots), Jorge Vilchis (Pilots), Chris Giesbrecht (Blazers) and Aidan Beckingham (Blazers), were named to the men's.