The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks, commonly shortened to Laurier Golden Hawks, is the name used by the varsity sports teams of

Wilfrid Laurier University Wilfrid Laurier University (commonly referred to as WLU or simply Laurier) is a Public university, public university in Ontario, Canada, with campuses in Waterloo, Ontario, Waterloo, Brantford, Ontario, Brantford and Milton, Ontario, Milton. The ...

Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo (formerly Waterloo County, Ontario, Waterloo County). Waterloo is situated about west-southwest of Toronto, but it is n ...

, Canada. The university's varsity teams compete in the

Ontario University Athletics Ontario University Athletics (OUA; ) is a regional membership association for Canadian universities which assists in co-ordinating competition between their university level athletic programs and providing contact information, schedules, results, ...

conference of

U Sports U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body for universities in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country and four regional conferences: Ontario University Athletics (OUA), Résea ...

and, where applicable, in the west division.

Varsity teams

While technically not considered a varsity team, Wilfred Laurier has a university

ringette Ringette is a winter team sport played on an ice rink using ice hockey skates, straight sticks with drag-tips, and a blue, rubber, pneumatic ring designed for use on ice surfaces. While the sport was originally created exclusively for female c ...

team which competes annually in the Canadian national University Challenge Cup. Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks teams compete in:

Football

The Golden Hawks football program has been one of the best in the conference, winning

Vanier Cup The Vanier Cup () is the trophy awarded annually to the champion Canadian football team in U Sports, the governing body for university sports in Canada. The U Sports football champion is determined in a one-game playoff (the Vanier Cup game), pl ...

national championships in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

and

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

. The team has also won 12 provincial championships, including eight Yates Cup championships. The program has been led by

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Michael Faulds since 2013.

Women's ice hockey

The Golden Hawks women's varsity hockey team has become very successful, winning their first OUA championship in their 1998–99 season as well as winning in seven consecutive years (2004–2010). Overall, the program has featured 11 conference champions, with the most recent coming in 2014. The team won their first and only

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

in 2005. The team has been led by head coach Kelly Paton since the 2018–19 season.

Volleyball

Future Olympian Sam Schachter competed in volleyball for the Golden Hawks, with whom he was

Rookie of the Year.

Cheerleading

The WLU Competitive Cheerleading team has also risen to prominence in the last few years having won 6 national championship titles at the University National Cheerleading Championships conducted by Power Cheerleading Athletics. The Golden Hawk Cheerleaders have been ranked in the top five squads in the nation at least 8 times in the past 10 years, winning 6 national titles in 2007, 2008 (in the All-Female division), 2009 (in the Small-Coed division), 2010 (All-Female Division), and 2011 (All-Female Division). Most recently, the team brought home first place at the 2013 (All-Female Division) University Nationals Competition managing to outscore teams from all other divisions, securing the title of Grand Champions. In addition to the program's primarily competitive focus, the team can also be found cheering sidelines at football games, and both men's and women's basketball games.

Club sports

* Field hockey * Lacrosse (men's) * Sailing * Softball * Squash

References

External links

* {{U Sports soccer U Sports teams

Golden Hawks The Golden Hawks were a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) aerobatic flying team established in 1959 to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the RCAF and the "Golden" 50th anniversary of Canadian flight, which began with the AEA Silver Dart in 1909. ...

Sport in Waterloo, Ontario