The York University women's basketball team had the crowd roaring as they defeated the University of Guelph Gryphons in a close game by a score of 77-76 on Saturday evening at Tait Mackenzie Centre.
The Lions were on a roll to open the first quarter, as an interception by Haley Bowie led Lauren Golding to score the first two points for the Lions. Emma Jonas and Bowie each nailed a three-pointer to add to the Lions' lead, but Guelph managed to pick up their game and tie the Lions 11-11 midway through the quarter. The Gryphons added eight more points and led the Lions 19-13 at the end of the quarter. More details on the York Lions website.
A day earlier, the Lions beat the Algoma Unversity Thunderbirds by 15 points on Friday, Nov. 9 at the Tait McKenzie Centre. The victory was their second win of the regular season and came by way of a 74-59 final score over the visiting team.
The Lions outscored the Thunderbirds in points in three of the four quarters. In the first quarter of the game, Algoma's Karly Francalanze scored the first two points of the game against the Lions, but York forward Lauren Golding soon answered with a two-point jump shot, which was followed by a three-point shot from Francalanze. More details.
Lions complete weekend sweep with 4-2 win over Thunderbirds
The York University Lions men's hockey team beat the Lakehead University Thunderwolves with a 4-2 victory on Saturday, Nov. 10 in Thunder Bay, Ont., their second win against the Thunderwolves this weekend.
The Lions and the Thunderwolves finished the first period of the game scoreless, but they were both, however, able to fire several shots on goal, which were all saved by the respective goalkeepers. York netminder Mack Shields was able to keep the Lions' net secured as he saved 17 of Lakehead's shots and Lakehead was able to save all nine of York's shots. More details.
On Friday night, the Lions played their first of two back-to-back games against the Thunderwolves and came away with a 5-2 victory. Reid Jackman scored three goals in the second period to earn himself his second hat trick of season. Jackman previously scored a hat trick two weeks ago in a huge 7-0 win for the Lions against the Laurentian Unviersity Voyageurs. He is now ranked third in the OUA with eight goals and tied for fourth with 13 points. Scott Feser added a goal for the Lions and two assists to jump into fifth place in the OUA with nine assists this season.
The Lions managed to get 25 shots on goal and capitalize on five, while the Thunderwolves doubled the Lions with 51 shots on goal, but only got two of them passed Mack Shields. More details.
Lions foiled by Citadins in consolation finals of U SPORTS championships
The York Lions men's soccer team played their last game of the 2018 season on Saturday in the consolation finals of the U SPORTS national championships against the UQAM Citadins and fell by a score of 1-0.
On a gorgeous fall day on the University of British Columbia campus, the Lions played the possession game early on as the game started slowly with neither side registering a shot in the first 12 minutes. Lions goaltender Shyon Gaeeni easily made the first save of the match in the 13th minute off of a strike from the Citadins' Oussama Kounna from the right corner of the box. More details.
To start the tournament on Thursday, the Lions battled back from a two-goal deficit against the Trinity Western University Spartans in the second half, but fell 4-2 in penalty kicks in the U SPORTS quarterfinals on Thursday at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. The loss marked the second year in a row the Lions lost in the U SPORTS quarterfinal match and meant they would play the remainder of the tournament in the consolation side of the bracket.
Trinity Western opened the game strong, keeping the Lions pinned in their own end in the first five minutes, and had an early corner kick but couldn't capitalize. A few minutes later, Lions midfielder Dylan Carreiro had the first chance for the Lions as he broke down the left side of the field and worked his way around a Spartans defender, but fired a shot wide left of the Spartans' goal. More details.
In the consolation semifinals, the Lions battled the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds on Friday afternoon and advanced to the consolation finals after a hard fought 1-0 victory. Despite their loss in the quarterfinal round, the Lions came out aggressive against the Varsity Reds and played with intensity throughout all 90 minutes of the match. More details.
Lions dig deep for overtime win over Thunderbirds
The York University Lions men's basketball team beat the visiting Algoma University Thunderbirds 85-81 in overtime on home court at the Tait McKenzie Centre on Friday night. The game was a back and forth contest that went into extra time after the Lions led in points in the first two quarters, and the Thunderbirds were able to make a comeback and tie up against the Lions in the second half.
In the first quarter of the game, the Lions led with 18 points as the Thunderbirds were behind the Lions by six points. York's Chevon Brown's had four points in the quarter, while fellow guard DeAndrae Pierre also scored four points, the last two being a jump shot with just 13 seconds remaining in the quarter. More details.
The next day the Lions fought hard, but were ultimately defeated by the University of Guelph Gryphons 105-92 on Saturday evening at the Tait Mackenzie Centre.
Prince Kamunga opened the first quarter by scoring a two-point jump shot for the Lions, followed by a three-pointer. The rest of the quarter, however, was all Gryphons as they were in control for most of the opening stanza and led the Lions 31-14 by the end of the quarter. More details.
Lions score six goals in win over Lancers
The York University women's hockey team put an end to their four-game losing streak with a 6-1 victory against the University of Windsor Lancers on Friday evening at Canlan Ice Sports.
The Lions opened up the first period and outplayed the Lancers, taking 12 shots on goal compared to Windsor's two. York's Christina Chin, who was assisted by Chelsea Tucker, gave the Lions an early lead at 5:01 when she placed the puck perfectly in the bottom right corner through a crowded Lancers net. Later in the period at 14:49, Lions captain Jenna Gray intercepted a puck in the Lancers' end zone, which led her to score her first goal of the season. More details.
The following night, the York Lions lost 3-2 in a shootout to the Nipissing University Lakers on Saturday, Nov. 10 at the Lions' home rink.
The Lions were the only team to secure a goal in the first period of the game as the Lions' offense was able to fire 10 shots at the Lakers' net, one of them resulting in the first goal of the game from Kelsey McHolm, which was assisted by Brooke Anderson. The Lakers attempted to score on York's net eight times; however, none of the shots were able to reach the back of York's net and the Lions led 1-0 after the first period against the visiting team. More details.
Lions move to 4-0 with win over Thunderwolves
The York University Lions women's volleyball team beat the Lakehead University Thunderwolves in a 3-0 sweep on Remembrance Day, Sunday, Nov. 11, at the Tait McKenzie Centre, adding a fourth win to their current undefeated season.
The Lions dominated each set of the game, refusing to let the visiting team get much momentum going in any of the three sets. The Lions, who have been having an impressive season under new head coach Jennifer Neilson, took the first set with a 25-9 victory over the Thunderwolves, winning by a large 16-point gap.
In the second set, it was all Lions once again, even though the Thunderwolves were able to lessen the scoring gap between the two teams. The Lions took the set with a 25-16 win, and in the third set of the game the Thunderwolves played hard to try and win, but the Lions came out on top again by a score of 25-18. More details.
Agard and Nguyen golden at Ryerson Open
It was a successful day for the York University Lions wrestling teams, as Bailey Agard and Paul Nguyen came away on top, capturing gold medals at the Ryerson Open this past Saturday.
Competing in the men's 54kg category, Nguyen was able to defeat Dip Lad of Team Xtreme and Lakehead University’s Hasan Ercan on his way to the top of the podium. The second-year wrestler was flawless in his quest for gold, not giving up a single point in any of his rounds.
Not to be outdone, Agard was dominant in her four matches in the women's 51kg category, going undefeated in the process. This is her second gold and third medal overall this season, highlighting and already impressive rookie campaign. More details.