Playoff soccer action gets underway at York Stadium this weekend as the men’s and women’s teams each finished atop their respective Ontario University Athletics West divisions and will host an OUA quarter-final contest on Saturday, Oct. 25.
Opponents for both teams will not be determined until Wednesday afternoon following the first round of the playoffs. Should the squads win, they will move on to the OUA semifinals the following weekend. The men would stay at home and welcome the rest of the league to York Stadium while the women would be on the road for the OUA championships.
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| Joelle Fisher | Mikhail Lew |
The men and women clinched first place in their divisions with wins over the Western Mustangs and Windsor Lancers. Against the Mustangs, the only team that stood between them and first place, the men won 2-1 thanks to goals by Adrian Pena and Douglas Sereti. The Lions then secured the top spot with a crushing 7-0 triumph over the Lancers as six different scorers contributed goals, including Jarek Whiteman with two. Rookie goalkeeper Alim Karim recorded his fourth shutout of the season to end the year on a high note.
The women’s final two games ended in 5-0 and 3-2 victories. As she has done all season, second-year star Stefania Morra carried her team to victory in both games by scoring five goals over the weekend, including all three York goals against Windsor. She finished the regular season with 18 goals to lead the Canadian Interuniversity Sport league in scoring for the second straight year.
Several teams were in action this past weekend. Highlighting the results were the men’s and women’s tennis teams, who each returned home with OUA silver medals after second-place showings at the OUA championships. The men were defeated by the University of Toronto Varsity Blues in the final while the women were upended by the University of Montreal Carabins. Before action got underway, Mikhail Lew and Joelle Fisher were named OUA all-stars.
Participating in playoffs this weekend is the field hockey team, which secured fourth place in the OUA standings with a 3-2 win over the Waterloo Warriors on Sunday, Oct. 19. Fourth-year team captain Leanne Kelly scored two penalty-stroke goals to help the Lions to victory following a game the day before in which York fell 2-0 to the Western Mustangs. Also scoring for the Lions was Kambria Ernst. The team will face the Warriors once again on Friday in the first round of the OUA playoffs. A win in that game would send the team to an OUA semi-final contest against the undefeated University of Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday.
While those teams are gearing up for the playoffs, the men’s volleyball team will begin its regular season at home on Saturday against the Guelph Gryphons. The Lions have had plenty of practice while participating in a number of pre-season tournaments but this contest marks the first OUA conference game for many team members as there are seven rookies on the squad. Last season, Guelph finished third in the OUA with a 14-6 record while the Lions ended up seventh after going 9-11.
Submitted to YFile by Alyson Grant, sport & recreation information officer.