The York University Lions women's hockey team fell to the Toronto Varsity Blues 2-1 in a shootout on Saturday (Nov. 29) in a home game at Canlan Ice Sports.
 
In the shootout, both goalies – York's Megan Lee (Orillia, Ont.) and Toronto's Nicole Kesteris – saved the first two shots each. Finally, Rianna Langford (Collingwood, Ont.) curved the puck around Kesteris to give the Lions the advantage.
 
Julia Szulewska from the Blues side shot next and slipped the puck past Lee, leveling the score 1-1. After another York miss, the Blues' Jacqueline Scheffel charged Lee with the final shot and won the game for the Blues.
 
Scheffel played a phenomenal game, picking up loose pucks and charging the Lions' net.
 
Justine Treadwell (Huntsville, Ont.) also played a superb game, slithering between the Blues and creating many scoring opportunities for the Lions.
 
In the first period, Kristi Riseley from the Varsity Blues opened up the scoring at 4:06 with a smashing goal against Lee.
 
At 11:36, Kristen Barbara (Mount Hope, Ont.) squeezed the puck past Kesteris, leveling the score at 1-1.
 
In the second period there were more broken sticks conceived (two) than goals, but there were several great scoring opportunities from both sides.
 
With the start of the second, the Lions continuously hammered the puck at goalie Kesteris who made diving efforts to save eight shots. The Blues turned the tables near the end of the half and began pushing the puck through the Lions' defence to Lee who saved six shots.
 
In the third, Sarai Whitty (Kingston, Ont.) had a great scoring opportunity at 16:26 when she smacked the puck to the top left corner of the Blues net, but Kesteris caught the puck, stopping York's chance of winning the game.
 
 At 17:18, Scheffel tested her luck with a powerful shot that Lee stopped with a splitting save. The third ended scoreless and put the game into overtime, which solved nothing.
 
Lee made a total of 20 saves, while Kesteris made a total of 24 saves.
 
The Lions are in eighth place in the OUA West standings with a record of 6-5-2, while the Blues currently sit sixth at 7-3-2.
 
The next game for the Lions is a home game on Sunday (Nov. 30) against the Ryerson Rams at Canlan Ice Sports at 2pm. It will be the last one of the season before the long December break.