The York Lions basketball, hockey and volleyball teams will all be in action at York University’s Keele campus this weekend.
The women’s volleyball team will attempt to remain perfect on the season when they face the 4-3 Brock Badgers on Thursday, Nov. 20, at 8pm at Tait McKenzie Centre. They pushed their record to 6-0 this past weekend with matching 3-0 victories over the Queen’s Gaels and Royal Military College (RMC) Paladins.
The men’s volleyball team will also be in action on Thursday evening just before the women, beginning at 6pm. They will face the No. 2-ranked undefeated McMaster Marauders in an effort to push their record to 3-5. Last week, the men fell to the Queen’s Gaels in three tightly contested sets but then rebounded to defeat the RMC Paladins 3-1.
The Lions men’s hockey team returns home to Canlan Ice Sports on Thursday for a contest against the Waterloo Warriors at 7pm. The Warriors head into the contest with a 7-3-0-2 record. The Lions will then host the Western Mustangs in a Saturday afternoon affair. The Western Mustangs head into the game with a 6-4-0-1 record. The puck drop is scheduled for 2pm.
The squad is coming off a weekend trip to Thunder Bay, Ont., where it split the two-game series with the No. 10-ranked Lakehead Thunderwolves. Lakehead got the best of York in the first game, winning 3-1, but the Lions rebounded to win a wild second game by a 7-6 score in overtime. Team captain Tyler Harrison scored the game winner and also chipped in three assists to lead all players in scoring with four points.
Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams will be on display in doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday night. Up first are meetings with the Western Mustangs on Nov. 21 at 6pm and 8pm, followed by games against the Windsor Lancers on Nov. 22 at 6 and 8pm. The Lions teams both enter the weekend following mixed results last weekend in which they each went 1-1. The women crushed the Waterloo Warriors 73-46 for their first victory of the season while the men defeated the Laurier Golden Hawks in a thrilling 83-81 game, coming back late in the fourth quarter to steal the win.
Finally, the women’s hockey team will be in Waterloo to face the Warriors on Saturday. The Warriors have a 5-5-0-1 record. Following the game, the Lions will return home for a meeting with the undefeated Laurier Golden Hawks on Sunday, Nov. 23 at 6pm. The Lions will be in tough against the 10-0 Hawks, the No. 2-ranked team in Canada, but York has pulled off upsets before and will be gunning to knock off Laurier for the first time this season. The squad is coming off one of its best weekends of the season when it won back-to-back games against the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) Ridgebacks and the Western Mustangs. They easily defeated UOIT 4-1 but then needed a shootout winner by right winger Michelle Guy in the sixth round to escape with a 4-3 triumph over Western.
In other OUA action, the men’s and women’s water polo teams will be in Ottawa this coming weekend for the OUA championships. The men are ranked No. 4 and will face the top-ranked Toronto Varsity Blues while the women finished the year in third place in the OUA and will also face the Varsity Blues. A win for either team will put them into the gold medal match while a loss will force them to play for the bronze. Possible opponents for both Lions teams are either the host Carleton Ravens or the McMaster Marauders.
Submitted by Alyson Grant, sport & recreation information officer