The York Lions football team broke out of a scoring funk to post a 39-11 victory over the University of Toronto and claim their 12th-straight Argo Cup in the Annual Red & Blue Bowl on Saturday at York Stadium. Their victory over U of T snapped a 0-4 skid to start the season and keeps the team's post-season hopes alive.
Left: York quarterback Bart Zemanek exults
The current Male Athlete of the Week, quarterback Bart Zemanek, passed for three second-half touchdowns and 339 yards on the day. The Lions held the Blues to just 88 yards rushing and that stingy defence will be needed again as the squad travels to Windsor to face the Lancers. Windsor boasts one of the most explosive players in the CIS, all-Canadian running back Daryl Stephenson. The Lions need to contain the Ontario University Athletics’ leading rusher as they begin their final stretch of games heading into the playoffs.
Meanwhile, men's and women's tennis picked up some well-earned hardware on the weekend. The men's team claimed OUA silver, while the women brought home bronze. For the men, their goal of repeating as OUA champions fell short against the top-ranked Western Mustangs, losing 5-2. After dropping their semifinal, the women responded with a 5-2 victory over the Mustangs to take third in the province. Next season, York will host the OUA Championships and both teams will be poised to better their results.
York’s Lions field hockey team continues to be the front-runner of the OUA, after rolling to a 7-1 victory over Western and a 1-1 draw with Queen's over the weekend. Lauren Conforzi added to her Canadian Interuniversity Sport-leading scoring tally, picking up three more goals in a win over Western and adding the equalizer against Queen's. After this weekend, the Lions rookie now has 10 goals. The Lions have this week off before resuming league play against Toronto, Guelph and Waterloo in the second week of October.
On the soccer pitch, the Lions women's soccer team played to a pair of scoreless draws this weekend. Fourth-year netminder Aurelea Gumiela (right) was in goal for both games, picking up her fifth and sixth shutout of the season. On Saturday, Gumiela made two saves against Brock before making three in a 0-0 tie with No. 8 McMaster on Sunday. As a result, the business & society major is now Female Athlete of the Week. York puts its 2-1-6 record on the line this weekend when the team plays Waterloo on Friday afternoon at York Stadium.
The men's soccer team began the weekend on a sour note, falling 2-0 to the No. 7-ranked Brock Badgers on Saturday. The win by the Badgers evened the season series after York took the opener by a 2-0 a few weeks ago. On Sunday, the Lions returned home and thumped the McMaster Marauders. Rookie striker Luca Forno scored twice, and assisted on another, as the Lions easily defeated the Marauders 5-0. It's the second time this year that York has scored five times against the Marauders. First-year goalie Arthur Zaslavski recorded his second shutout of the season. The 4-5-0 Lions look to pull even on the year this Friday when they host the Warriors at York Stadium.
York's badminton squad began league play at the weekend, opening with an 8-5 victory over McMaster. The men won all of their singles matches and the mixed pairs won all of their games, which proved to be the difference for the Lions. York's next challenge is two weeks away, when the team faces the Toronto Varsity Blues, also winners in week one.
York’s women's rugby Lions improved to 3-1 on the year after besting the Trent Excalibur 24-15 in Peterborough on Saturday. First-year centre Tamara Jackson led the Lions with three tries, as they kept pace with the front-running McMaster Marauders in the OUA. Next up for the Lions is a date with the Varsity Blues on Friday. Toronto is still searching for its first victory of the season.
The cross-country team went to Mount Morris, NY, at the weekend for the Geneseo Invitational. Fiona Turner was the team's top finisher, placing seventh out of 196 runners and helping the team place 13th in the event. After taking Thanksgiving off, the team returns to action in Kingston two weeks from now at the Queen's Open.
On the exhibition front, several York squads began their prep for the regular season. The men's hockey Lions finished second in their annual exhibition tournament at Canlan Ice Sports. The team won the first game, 4-3, over Laurier before falling to the McGill Redmen, 4-1, in the final. The women's hockey Lions also shared a weekend of mixed results, falling 6-3 to the Carleton Ravens before responding with a convincing 5-1 win over UOIT.
Both volleyball teams saw action this past weekend. The men were at the Ryerson Invitational, finishing with a 2-3 record. Third-year player Paul Podstawka was named a tournament all-star. Women's volleyball participated in the Montreal Invitational, finishing in sixth place with a 1-4 record.
This article was submitted to YFile by Steven Reid, sport & recreation information assistant in York’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health.