Above: Members of the York Lions women’s soccer team celebrate at the Ontario University Athletics bronze-medal game Sunday in Kingston |
For the second-straight week, the York Lions will have a team battling for Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) supremacy as the women’s soccer squad advanced to the 2006 national championship after defeating Western 1-0 in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) bronze-medal game on Nov. 5 in Kingston.
The soccer team is the second women’s squad in as many weeks to advance to the national championship this fall. The field hockey team, which played at the national final last week at the University of British Columbia, finished fifth after posting a 0-3-1 record in round-robin play.
The women’s soccer team advanced to the national championship for the second-straight season after making the team’s inaugural trip one year ago on the heels of the school’s first-ever OUA women’s soccer title. Samantha Bowne (right) scored her first goal of the year – the game-winner – in the 57th minute in the game against Western. For her outstanding efforts, Browne was named this week’s Female Athlete of the Week.
Above: The 2006 York Lions women’s soccer team with their bronze medals |
The Lions open the 2006 National Championship on Nov. 12 with a noon match-up against the Canada West champion Trinity Western Spartans. York will be looking to improve on its seventh place result in 2005. The winner of Thursday’s game advances to the semifinals on Saturday where they will face either the Atlantic University Sport champion Cape Breton Capers or the OUA finalist Queen’s Golden Gaels. The gold medal game is slated for 3pm on Sunday.
The men’s and women’s badminton teams wrapped up regular season play with a 10-3 loss to the Waterloo Warriors. The Lions, 2-3 on the year, will face the defending OUA champion Western Mustangs in the final four on Saturday at Waterloo. The winner advances to the OUA title match against either Toronto or Waterloo.
The men’s volleyball team continued to rack up wins, defeating the Windsor Lancers and Western Mustangs in their first two regular season home games of the year. On Friday, the Lions defeated the Lancers 3-0 on the strength of Paul Podstawka’s 14 kills. Saturday, York defeated Western, 3-1, as Podstawka and Ryan Anderson (right) combined for 37 kills and 40 points in the match. Anderson, the Lions’ 6-foot-7 middle, has been outstanding in the first five games of the year. Against the Lancers, he posted nine kills and a game-high six assisted blocks. In the Western match, he recorded a game-high 20 kills, the most of any Lion in a match this season. For his efforts, Anderson was named this week’s Male Athlete of the Week. The women’s volleyball team opened their two-game home stand with a 3-1 win against Windsor, but lost 3-0 to Western in the second match. Both squads travel to Guelph and McMaster this weekend for a pair of road games.
On the ice, the women’s hockey team had a rough week, losing 3-1 to the Toronto Jr. Aeros on Wednesday night in exhibition play before falling to cross-town rival Toronto, 5-0, on Sunday. On the men’s side, the Lions lost 3-2 to Western in London on Thursday and tied the Waterloo Warriors 2-2 on Saturday at home. Both teams play at home this week with the men’s team hosting the No. 3-ranked McGill Redmen at 7:30pm on Friday night and the Ottawa Gee-Gees at 2pm on Saturday. The women’s squad looks to rebound with a 6pm showdown with the No. 3-ranked Laurier Golden Hawks on Saturday.
In water polo action, the men’s team lost 9-6 to Toronto on Wednesday night, while the women’s game was postponed. Both teams travel to McMaster this weekend for games against Carleton. The women’s squad will face Queen’s, while the men’s team battles Western.
The women’s basketball team opened the 2006-2007 regular season with an 89-72 come-from-behind victory over the Laurentian Voyageurs on Saturday night. York’s Brenan Rurak played the entire 40 minutes, recording a game-high 28 points on 12-of-21 shooting. The men’s team wrapped up exhibition play with a two-game NCAA road trip. On Friday, the Lions lost 86-54 to Middle Tennessee State and on Saturday, the team closed out the weekend with a 69-47 loss to Murray State. Both teams hit the road this weekend for a pair of games at Brock on Friday and Guelph on Saturday.
This story was submitted to YFile by Kimberly Moser, communications and promotions officer for Sport & Recreation in York’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health.