York University Lions wrestlers Brea Rodgers and Bailey Agard won silver medals at the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championships on Saturday to lead the women’s team to a sixth-place finish in Guelph, Ont., while the men were eighth.
Rodgers won the silver medal in the 59kg weight class in her debut OUA meet, earning the conference’s rookie of the year award in the process. She is the first rookie of the year in program history, and the result from her and Agard equals the best ever finish from a Lions women’s wrestler at the championship.
Agard’s result came in the 51kg division. She was also competing in her first OUA championship after an injury forced her to miss the event last year. More details on the York Lions website.
Women’s volleyball Lions win third straight after downing Paladins in five sets
The York University Lions women’s volleyball team beat the Royal Military College (RMC) Paladins 3-2 on Sunday in Kingston, Ont., their third victory in a row.
The Lions took the first two sets against the home team. York finished the first set with a 25-17 win and took the second set 25-15. More details.
As part of their weekend road trip, the Lions earned a 3-1 victory over the Queen’s University Gaels on Saturday.
In the first set, kills from Olivia Kim and Aleksandra Steins helped the Lions gain the early lead. The Lions didn’t lead for long with a kill from Arielle Palermo followed by a Lions attack error helped the Gaels come back to tie the score. Both teams were fighting for the lead, but with a series of attack errors from the Gaels the Lions were able to gain the edge and widen it. A final kill from Kim sealed the Lions 25-22 win in the first set. More details.
Men’s hockey Lions continue hot streak with road win over Warriors
The York University Lions men’s hockey team continued its late-season surge on Thursday night with a 4-2 win over the University of Waterloo Warriors at Columbia Ice Fields in Waterloo, Ont.
The Lions have now earned points in four straight games, winning three of them.
Morgan Messenger is a big reason why the Lions have been picking up points. He scored the winning goal against the Warriors and added an assist on the final goal and now has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his last three games. More details.
The win came one day after a 3-1 victory over the Brock University Badgers on home ice. In the first period, the Lions were pressuring hard and played tough defence. Six minutes in, the Badgers had a substantial chance for themselves to score, but Lions goalie Cole Ceci made a desperate save and smothered Brock’s chance. More details.
Men’s volleyball Lions need five sets to take down Paladins in Kingston
The York University Lions men’s volleyball team got its first win of 2020 as they beat the Royal Military College (RMC) Paladins in a 3-2 game on Sunday in Kingston, Ont.
Andrew Shotbolt finished the game with a total of 18 points, 17 of them kills, while teammate and first-name twin Andrew Tauhid finished with 16 points, 13 of them kills.
The Lions finished on top of the Paladins in the first two sets, taking the first 25-19 with 14 kills from York and 10 from the home team. The Lions finished the second set 25-14, creating a 2-0 game lead against the Paladins. More details.
The Lions were also in Kingston the day before for a match against the Queen’s University Gaels and were defeated in straight sets.
In the first set, the Gaels scored the first point off of a serve error, but Tauhid came back with a great kill to equalize the game early. The Lions gained the lead with a series of Gaels’ mistakes, followed by a kill from Shotbolt. However, the lead didn’t last long as the Gaels continued to earn points to regain the lead and finish the first set with a 25-19 score. More details.
McHolm scores hat trick but Voyageurs defeat women’s hockey Lions in shootout
The No. 9 nationally ranked York University Lions women’s hockey team was defeated in a shootout by a 4-3 score by the Laurentian University Voyageurs in Sudbury, Ont., on Saturday evening.
The Lions picked up a point in the standings as the race for the playoffs continues and are now third with 41 points, one point back of second-place Nipissing and one ahead of Waterloo. The Lions played hard with excellent defence, but neither team found the back of the net in the first period. More details.
On Friday, the Lions suffered a 4-3 loss to the Nipissing University Lakers. York and Nipissing traded goals back and forth in a busy first period. The Lions opened the scoring less than four minutes in on a tally by Ava Ricker-Singh, but 49 seconds later the score was tied again as Malory Dominico found the back of the net for the home team. More details.
Track and field Lions finish weekend with 17 podium results across two meets
The York University Lions track and field teams hosted the annual York Open this weekend at the Toronto Track and Field Centre (TTFC), while some of the jumpers headed across the border for Cornell University’s Kane Indoor Invitational.
The women long jumpers swept away the competition across the border as Leah Jones, who has gone undefeated in the women’s long jump for four weeks in a row, left with the gold medal; long and triple jumper Olivia Henry left with the silver and Rasheeda Gurley finished with the bronze and a season’s best.
At TTFC, pole vaulter Daniel Gleason hit the U SPORTS auto-qualification standard with a jump of 5.02m. He also finished first among U SPORTS athletes at the meet and still holds the number one spot nationally by a large margin. More details.
Men’s basketball Lions fall behind early in loss to Marauders
All of the McMaster University Marauders starters had over 10 points, as their men’s basketball side took an early lead over the York University Lions and would not relinquish it for the duration of the contest.
They downed the Lions 95-72 at Burridge Gymnasium, including a 31-point opening quarter that allowed the host Marauders to breathe in the later three quarters of the game. The loss was York’s fifth in a row. More details.
Earlier in the week, the Lions dropped a 94-81 decision to the Brock University Badgers on the road. The Lions gained an early lead over the Badgers with a jump shot from Yacine Loe followed by a three-pointer and a free throw from Prince Kamunga. Still, the Badgers quickly regained their lead and extended it with a jump shot from Mitch Saunders, followed by another jump shot from Daniel Cayer. A three from Saunders closed out the first quarter with 27-17 over the Lions. More details.
Five-game winning streak comes to end for women’s basketball Lions against No. 8 Badgers
The York University Lions women’s basketball team saw its five-game winning streak come to an end on Wednesday night with a 73-55 loss to the No. 8 nationally ranked Brock University Badgers in St. Catharines, Ont.
The Lions came out strong in the first quarter of the game with a series of three-pointers from Megan Stewart, Lauren Golding and Emma Jonas to gain the early lead. The Badgers scored baskets of their own to keep it a close game, but the Lions prevailed and outscored the Badgers in the first quarter 15-12. More details.
The Lions lost their second straight of the week with a 76-68 defeat to the McMaster University Marauders on the road on Saturday. York started fast, outscoring their opponents 24-19 in the game’s opening quarter, holding McMaster off the score sheet for four straight minutes at the end of the first frame.
In the second, the game remained close but York had a slight edge over the Marauders thanks to six points from Katrina Collins-Samuels. She held the Marauders back and kept the Lions in the lead. They had a three-point lead, 42-39 at half time. More details.