The No. 8 nationally-ranked York University Lions women's soccer team welcomes the McMaster Marauders to York Stadium on Wednesday night for an OUA first-round playoff match with a berth in the quarter-finals on the line.
 
The Match-up: No. 8 York (12-1-3) vs. McMaster (5-7-4)
 
Home/Away Record
York – 5-2-0 at home
McMaster – 3-4-2 on the road
 
Current Streak
York – Lost 1
McMaster – Won 2
 
Last Meetings
The Lions earned four of a possible six points in two head-to-head matches in the regular season, winning the first 2-0 at York Stadium on opening weekend and posting a scoreless draw in Hamilton two weeks ago. Christina Morelli and Francesca Pedulla scored the two goals for the Lions, while Courtney Davis earned the clean sheet in net in both contests.
 
QUICK FACTS
 

• The Lions are the most improved team in the OUA this season, moving from seventh to third in the OUA West Division while posting eight more wins and 15 more points than last year.
• The Lions will be favoured tonight after finishing with seven more wins (12 to five) and 19 more points (38 to 19) than the Marauders in the regular season.
• The Lions finished with an impressive +48 goal differential, while the Marauders are the only playoff team in the division to be below even, at -1. The Lions scored 53 goals, the third most in the OUA West, and allowed just five in 16 games, the lowest total. The Marauders scored 28 and allowed 29.
• The winner of today's match will advance to an OUA quarter-final contest on Sunday afternoon. If the Lions win they'll get the second-place Laurier Golden Hawks, while a McMaster win would set up a date with the first-place Western Mustangs.
• The last time the Lions reached the quarter-finals was in 2011, when they upset the Guelph Gryphons in the first round before a loss to Laurier in the quarters.

PLAYERS TO WATCH
 
York
 
S Nour Ghoneim – The former OUA and CIS rookie of the year, and OUA all-star, finished the regular season as the team leader and third in the conference with 17 goals in 16 games. Four of her goals counted as game winners.
 
GK Courtney Davis – The rookie goalkeeper was impressive in her debut season, posting 11 wins in 15 starts including eight clean sheets. She had a save percentage of .881 and turned away a total of 37 shots.
 
McMaster
 
M Maureen Mai – Led the Marauders and was tied for 16^th in the OUA with seven goals scored this season. Two of them were for game-winners, the highest mark on the team.
 
F Taylor Lambert – Appeared in all 16 regular-season games this season and finished with four goals, tying her for second on the team.

PLAYOFFS! Today is your last chance to see the women's soccer team at home. Come out and support your Lions! ???? yorku lionpride yorklions golions soccer beatmac matchday gameday

A photo posted by York Lions (@yorkulions) on Oct 10, 2014 at 5:15am PDT