The No. 4 nationally-ranked York University Lions women's soccer team defeated the No. 3 Laurier Golden Hawks on Thursday (Oct. 1) by a score of 2-0 at University Stadium in Waterloo, Ont., to remain undefeated on the season.
 
The win was the team's first over their division rivals since Oct. 14, 2009, and it also handed the Golden Hawks their first loss of the season. The Lions (8-0-1) are now tied with the Golden Hawks (8-1-1) for first place in the OUA West with 25 points and have a game in hand.
 
The Golden Hawks and Lions came into the game with the understanding of the implications and importance of the CIS rankings and it was evident by how the teams played in the early stages of the match. As they have all season, the Lions dominated possession and fired a total of 27 shots in the contest, including 13 shots on goal compared to just three for the Golden Hawks.
 
They finally broke through in the 44^th minute when Charlene D'Mello (Mississauga, Ont.) busted the scoreless game with a beautiful strike to break the deadlock moments before the halftime buzzer. The Lions took the 1-0 lead into halftime and never looked back.
 
The second half was much of the same story, and the Lions finally got the insurance marker in the 87^th minute on a goal by 2014 OUA West most valuable player Nour Ghoneim (Aurora, Ont.), who beat Laurier goalkeeper Ashley Almeida to cap off a monumental victory for the Lions.
 
Almeida finished with 11 saves in the contest, while York goalkeeper Taylor Grant (Brampton, Ont.) made three saves.
 
The Lions will look to add to their impressive season on Sunday (Oct. 4) when the team travels to Guelph, Ont., to take on the Gryphons at 1pm.