The 2017 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) campaign officially gets underway on Sunday, Aug. 27, when the York University Lions football team hosts the Western Mustangs in the season opener for both teams.
Kickoff is set for 1pm at Alumni Field, and the game can also be seen live online on OUA.tv.
The Lions will get to test themselves against one of the best football teams in the country right away with the visit from the Mustangs, who reached the Yates Cup final in each of the past two years and most recently won the championship in 2013.
For the Lions, Sunday’s game is a chance to show the hometown fans how much they’ve grown this off-season. After a promising 2016 campaign, in which they picked up a pair of wins and had a chance to qualify for the playoffs on the final day of the regular season, the Lions had a tremendous off-season in recruiting and workouts, and are poised to continue making noise in the conference.
Both of their wins last year came on home turf and the offence put on a show, amassing more than 50 points in each contest as part of a pair of lopsided victories over Waterloo and Windsor.
The Mustangs, meanwhile, will be taking the field for the first time since their collapse in last year’s OUA final, where they led Laurier by 21 points in the fourth quarter but relinquished the lead late and then lost on the final play of the game. They have had all off-season to regroup and, under the direction of five-time OUA coach of the year Greg Marshall, will no doubt be ready to go at kickoff on Sunday.
On Sunday, York and Western will face off for the first time since 2015 and the Lions will be looking to finally get past a dominant Mustangs squad that has won all but one meeting between the two teams.
Tickets can be purchased online at yorkulions.ca/ticketing in advance, or at the gate on game day.