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Above: The York Lions women’s team rush to congratulate Gina Kripotos (17) on her game-winning penalty kick in an Ontario University Athletics playoff game at York Stadium Saturday. Photo by Alex Pylyshyn.
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Gina Kripotos scored the biggest goal of the season on Saturday to send the York University Lions women’s soccer team to the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Final Four Championship this weekend. She netted the fifth and final penalty kick to give the Lions a 4-3 edge and thus a 2-1 victory over the McMaster Marauders in their OUA quarter-final game at York Stadium.
As the top seeds in the OUA West, the Lions have earned the right to host the OUA championships and will welcome the Laurier Golden Hawks, Ottawa Gee-Gees and Queen’s Gaels to York Stadium this weekend for the semifinals and finals.
The women’s soccer team (12-2-1) wasn’t the only squad putting up big results this weekend. In other Lions action:
The field hockey team (7-7-3) finished fourth at the OUA championship, one place higher than last year. Seeded No. 5 heading into the final weekend, the Lions upset the No. 4 Waterloo Warriors 1-0 on Friday afternoon to advance to the semifinals. However, they were stopped in their march to the championship by the undefeated Guelph Gryphons, who would go on to win the gold medal and complete a perfect season. The Lions then lost 3-2 to the Western Mustangs in the bronze medal game. Shannon Vance had the goal for York against Waterloo and Tracy Broome scored both against Western.
The cross-country team travelled to St. Catharines for the OUA championships and put in strong runs as the women finished 11th and the men 12th in the team competition. Individually, Kathryn Pistor was the top Lions finisher in the five-kilometre women’s race, crossing the line in 48th place in a time of 19:42. On the men’s side, David Zylberberg finished the 10-kilommetre race in 71st place in a time of 34:32.
The men’s hockey team (3-3-1) earned its third win of the season with a 3-2 shootout victory over the Guelph Gryphons on Saturday. Mackenzie Micks and Nathaniel Brooks both scored in regulation and JK Gill scored in the seventh round of the shootout to secure the victory.
The women’s hockey team (2-3) lost a close 3-2 game to the undefeated and six-time defending OUA champion Laurier Golden Hawks on Sunday. Kelsey Webster and Courtney Unruh scored for York and goaltender Sydney McMurter made several excellent saves to keep the game close.
The women’s volleyball team (2-1) defeated the Queen’s Gaels 3-1 in a rematch of last year’s thrilling OUA quarter-final contest. The men (1-3) fell 3-0 to Queen’s and also dropped a 3-0 decision to the Ryerson Rams.
The women’s basketball team (0-1) opened the regular season with a home game on Friday night and lost to the visiting Laurentian Lady Vees. The Lions’ rookies, playing in their first OUA game, were impressive as Nadia Qahwash led the way with 19 points and Kayla Pangos had 14.
The men’s soccer team suffered a shocking 1-0 defeat to the Western Mustangs in their OUA quarter-final game on Saturday to see its season come to an end. The Lions were the No. 1-ranked team in the country and were hoping to get back to the national championships this year to defend their title but will now have to wait another year for that chance.
The badminton team lost to the three-time defending OUA champion Western Mustangs 12-1 in London.
The men’s water polo team (3-4) went 1-2 last week. The Lions recorded a 10-8 victory over the McMaster Marauders in the first game but the Marauders got the best of them in the second, winning 9-5. The Lions also fell to the Western Mustangs 13-11.
The women’s water polo team (0-5) is still waiting for its first victory of the season. The Lions dropped both contests against McMaster last week, losing 14-5 and 10-3.
The men’s basketball team played three exhibition games against Atlantic schools and went 0-3, falling to the St. Mary’s Huskies 66-53, the Acadia Axemen 82-73 and the Dalhousie Tigers 94-51.
The swimming team competed well at the Laurentian Invitational in Sudbury. The squad combined for 19 top-five finishes at the meet.