In the XIX century, sports were an important part of the Montreal community, with early forms of
rugby, soccer (in summer), and
ice hockey (in winter), an even
baseball. McGill students used to participate in those sporting activities in late 1840s and early 1850s. The McGill team travelled to
Cambridge to meet Harvard. On May 14, 1874, the first game, played under Harvard's rules, was won by Harvard with a score of 3–0. The next day, the two teams played under "McGill" rugby rules to a scoreless tie. The games featured a round ball instead of a rugby-style oblong ball. In October 1874, the Harvard team once again travelled to Montreal to play McGill in rugby, where they won by three tries. Nevertheless, the first soccer team, i.e. the first squad playing under the
Football Association rules was fielded in 1898, playing
exhibition games and participating in local leagues such as the Montreal City and District League. Teams were composed of mostly medical students due to medicine was the only faculty operating during the season months (usually summer). Nevertheless McGill would not participate in intercollegiate competition until 1906, when the team joined forces with
Queen's and the
Toronto Universities for a
round-robin tournament championship. The program won their first national championship in 1981, after defeating
Alberta 4–2
on penalties, following a scoreless regular time. One year later, McGill won their second consecutive title after a 1–0 to
Victoria in the final. The third and last to date title came in 1997, when McGill defeated
British Columbia 5–4 on penalties after a regular time with no goals scored. McGill had one of their most successful regular seasons in recent history in Fall 2018, finishing with a 5–4–3 Conference record, and placing fourth in the RSEQ conference. The team went on to lose to
Montreal in the RSEQ playoffs. == Players ==