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| Above: Lions' Tyler Harrison scores the tying goal against Brock on Thursday |
It was a stellar few days for the York University Lions this past weekend as all interuniversity sport teams in action recorded at least one victory.
Left: York's Autumn Mills (33) tangles with a Queen's opponent in Saturday's game at Canalan Ice Sports
Leading the way was the women’s hockey team with a pair of wins over the visiting Queen’s Gaels and University of Ontario Institute of Technology Ridgebacks. The Lions, who moved up to No. 9 in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) rankings last week, recorded a 2-1 shootout victory over No. 7 Queen’s and a convincing 4-1 triumph over the Ridgebacks to improve their record to 13-5-1. With 27 points, the Lions are comfortably in third place in Ontario University Athletics (OUA) standings and have climbed within one point of the second-place Gaels with eight games left to play.
Kelsey Webster recorded three points in the two wins to add to her OUA-leading total for scoring by defencemen. She now has 15 points in 19 games, four more than the next player on the list.
Several members of the track & field team came up big at the Can Am Classic in Windsor. Elizabeth Petrov captured gold and bronze medals with personal-best throws in the shot put and weight throw, respectively, to be named York’s female athlete of the week. Her six attempts in the shot put were all further than the best throw from the second-place finisher and her mark of 14.22 metres qualified her for the CIS championships later this year.
Also winning gold for the Lions in Windsor were Tyrone Halstead (60 metres), Heather Hamilton (pole vault), Kristin Obrochta (weight throw), Jonathan Odumeru (high jump), Christopher Theriau (60-metre hurdles) and the men’s 4-by-200metre relay team of Halstead, David Mayer, Dwayne Norman and Dontae Richards-Kwok.
The men’s basketball team (2-9) picked up its second win of the season with a 117-71 triumph over the visiting Royal Military College Paladins. The team also dropped an exciting game to the Queen’s Gaels the night before by an 81-72 score. Rookie Ostap Choliy (right) had a combined 43 points in the two games to be named York’s male athlete of the week.
The women’s basketball team (2-10) also got its second win of the year by defeating the Paladins. The Lions dominated from start to finish and won 87-42. They also suffered a defeat the previous night to Queen’s 66-44. Emily Perras had a huge night for the Lions in the win with 11 points and 15 rebounds, one of six players to hit double digits in scoring, while Brittany Szockyj led all players with 18 points.
The men’s hockey team (10-9-1) went 1-1 last week to remain in fifth place in the ultra-tight OUA West standings. The Lions recorded a thrilling 2-1 shootout victory over Brock on Thursday night after team captain Tyler Harrison scored the tying goal with just 36.7 seconds remaining on the clock. On Saturday night, the team suffered a 4-2 defeat to the No. 3 nationally ranked Western Mustangs.
Rounding out the weekend were the men’s and women’s volleyball teams, who travelled to Kingston to face RMC and Queen’s. Both squads soundly defeated the Paladins in straight sets but were defeated by the Gaels, the women 3-2 and the men 3-0.
The women (7-4) are now tied with the Gaels for second spot in the OUA East with 14 points but they do have a game in hand. The men remain tied with the Ryerson Rams in ninth place in the OUA with a 3-9 record.
OUA action continues this weekend with basketball and women’s hockey on the home schedule.
Submitted by Alyson Fisher, sport & recreation information officer with Sport York