The York University Lions teams competing this weekend will head into the winter break full of confidence after a number of wins at home in the final Ontario University Athletics (OUA) action of 2009.
The women’s hockey team collected three of a possible four points on the weekend with a convincing 7-2 victory over the Windsor Lancers on Sunday and a 4-3 shootout defeat to the Western Mustangs on Saturday. The results moved the team into third place in the OUA standings with a solid 9-4-1 record heading into the winter break.
Forward Mandy Cole had a huge weekend with a combined four points in two games, recording a hat trick against Windsor and a goal against Western. She also tallied a shootout goal in the game with the Mustangs.
The women’s volleyball team ended the fall portion of their schedule on a high with a straight-sets victory over the winless Royal Military College Paladins at Tait McKenzie Centre on Saturday. The victory pushed the Lions’ record to 6-2 and they sit alone atop the OUA East standings. In the win, Thinesa Sriskandarajah and Kristina Vlcek had 16 and 14 points, respectively, and captain Sarah Sutton had a team-high 11 digs.
The men’s hockey team earned a thrilling 6-5 come-from-behind win over the visiting Guelph Gryphons at Canlan Ice Sports on Saturday. Cassidy Preston scored the tying goal with just over three minutes left, and Chris Jones netted the winner, his third of the game, at the 18:15 mark of the third period to give the Lions the win. Jones is York’s male athlete of the week. The Lions are now 8-8-1 and sit fifth in the OUA West.
The track & field team saw its first action of the 2009-2010 season at the 10th annual York University Christmas Open that was held at the Metro Toronto Track & Field Centre. The Lions accumulated four first-place finishes: Elizabeth Petrov won the women’s shot put, Dontae Richards-Kwok the men’s 200-metre race, Kristin Obrochta the women’s weight throw and Brittany Pepper the women’s long jump. Cynthia Appiah finished the day with silver medals in the women’s weight throw and shot put to be named York’s female athlete of the week. Umar Khan also had two podium results with second-place finishes in the men’s weight throw and shot put.
All Lions teams are now off until the new year and will return to action the first week of January 2010.
Submitted by Alyson Fisher, sport & recreation information officer with Sport York