The men’s and women’s soccer teams return home this weekend after another successful road trip. Both teams will be in action on Saturday, Oct. 11, at 1pm and 3:15pm, to face the Laurier Golden Hawks in a pair of games that will help determine standings in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) West division. Despite being stripped of four wins because of the use of an ineligible player, the men’s team has a 5-4-1 record and sits in third place in the division, just behind Laurier. Meanwhile, the women are 6-2-2 and are tied with the Golden Hawks for second place.
Last weekend, the men’s team continued their dominant season by recording 3-0 and 2-1 victories over the McMaster Marauders and Brock Badgers, respectively. Third-year midfielder Francesco Bruno scored three goals and now has eight on the season to sit in second place among Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) scoring leaders. The women suffered their second loss of the season, a 2-1 defeat to McMaster, but rebounded to win 3-2 over Brock in the second game. Star second-year player Stefania Morra recorded all four of York’s goals to bring her season total to 12, tops in the CIS.
The women’s hockey team will play its first home game of the regular season on Saturday against the visiting Windsor Lancers. The Lions got off to a rough start to begin the 2008-2009 campaign, dropping their first two games this past weekend. The team lost a 4-2 decision to the Guelph Gryphons and then suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat to the Brock Badgers. Goal scorers for York in the first game were captain Jessica Turi and forward Samantha Solheim.
The only other action happening at York this week is the home openers for the men’s and women’s water polo teams. Both squads will play their second games of the season on Thursday, 7:15pm and 8:45pm, against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. The squads had mixed results to open their years as the men fell 8-4 to the McMaster Marauders but the women won 10-9. Fourth-year star Jordan Duffield, who was an OUA first-team all-star last season, scored all four of York’s goals on the men’s side while Kara Knowles added four for the women.
The football team hits the road for the final time this weekend when it travels to Guelph to take on the Gryphons on Saturday at 1pm. Guelph is currently 3-3 and in a tough battle for one of the six playoff spots in the OUA. The Lions, on the other hand, are 0-6 after another defeat at home, this time to the mighty Queen’s Gaels, who handed York its worst loss in team history with an 80-0 drubbing.
The field hockey team will play another three games this weekend after putting together its best three games of the season last weekend, going 2-0-1 to improve its overall record to 3-4-2. The women tied with McGill Redmen in the first game and then recorded back-to-back 1-0 wins over the Queen’s Gaels and Carleton Ravens.
Both the men’s and women’s volleyball teams participated in tournaments last weekend as they prepare for the regular season, which begins at the end of the month. The women hosted the 2008 Samsung Tait McKenzie Volleyball Classic and captured the gold medal with 3-1 victory over the Brock Badgers while the men were forced to settle for fourth place after a 3-0 loss to the host Ryerson Rams at the Leasebank Ryerson Invitational.
Finally, the men’s and women’s tennis teams and women’s rugby squad finished off their regular seasons. The tennis players will spend the next couple of weeks preparing for the playoffs, which take place in London, Ont., Oct. 17-19, while the women’s rugby team is finished for the year after another blowout defeat. In other news, the badminton squad started its year with a 12-1 loss to the Waterloo Warriors at home and the cross-country team participated in the Queen’s Open in Kingston.
Submitted to YFile by Alyson Grant, sport & recreation information officer.