The York University Lions women's rugby team won its first game of the season on Friday night with a 33-20 victory over the Western Mustangs in London, Ont.
 
The two squads faced off in a crucial game for playoff seeding in the Shiels Division, which has a new structure this year and features the top five teams in the OUA from last season. As the winners, the Lions are guaranteed to finish in fourth place and will have a chance to play for the medals in the playoffs.
 
It was actually the Mustangs that got on the board first, with Nikki Case opening the scoring in the second minute of play on a long run that found the end zone.
 
The Lions got on the board five minutes later with a try by Megan Pakulis to even the score at 5-5, and they took their first lead when Catherine Belanger's conversion was good.
 
The Lions led for the rest of the game, by as much as 18 points early in the second half when Belanger's second conversion extended the lead 28-10. She finished the game with three conversions for six points.
 
Tobi Owotomo, a reigning OUA all-star and U SPORTS all-Canadian, was York's leading scorer with two tries, her first coming in the 26^th minute and the second in the 42^nd. Tia Anderson-Hudson and Sasha Seymour also scored tries for the Lions, while Veronica Harrigan added a pair for Western.
 
The Lions will host a playoff game next Friday night at 7pm at Alumni Field against the top finisher in the Russell Division after the regular season concludes this weekend.