The No. 4 nationally-ranked York University Lions women's soccer team was defeated by a final score of 1-0 in penalty kicks by the Windsor Lancers in their OUA quarter-final match to see their season come to an end on Sunday afternoon (Oct. 30) at Alumni Field.
 
The result marked the second year in a row the Lions have had their season ended with a penalty kicks loss, following last year's defeat to Queen's in the same fashion in the OUA semifinals.
 
After a scoreless 90 minutes of regulation and another 30 minutes of extra time, York went first in the shootout with Nour Ghoneim (Aurora, Ont.) taking the opening penalty. The shot was well placed to the top left corner of the net but Windsor goalkeeper Krystin Lawrence made an astounding play, plucking the ball out of the air. Windsor's Cassie Chretien would be successful on her first attempt giving the Lancers a 1-0 lead.
 
York's next shot by Farkhunda Muhtaj (Toronto) was a little too high and squeaked its way over top of the crossbar. Giulia Barile would take the next shot for Windsor and be successful making the Lancers 2-for-2.
 
Tomika McIntosh (Bradford, Ont.) got the Lions on the board on the next attempt with a low left corner strike, and Chelsea Zavitz made her shot to give the Lancers three straight made attempts and a 3-1 lead.
 
In the fourth round, Peyton Lozzi (King City, Ont.) kept the Lions' hopes alive by blasting a shot past Lawrence and, with the game riding on her foot, Jaclyn Faraci beat Taylor Grant (Brampton, Ont.) to her left to end the game.
 
The Lions opened up the first half of the match getting a feel for the ball and the new playoff season environment. The pace of play was much faster and more physical than usual. Neither the Lancers nor the Lions received many opportunities to take a shot on goal as both teams' defenders would thwart any hopes of a free shot. 
 
Despite the defenders' dominating play there were a few close calls in the opening half. Grant was tested when a Lancer forward charged her while trying to intercept an overpowered through ball, but Grant slid to get the ball away from the forward's feet.
 
Near the end of the first half York would get its first good opportunity to score when Ghoneim was awarded a free kick from 25 yards out. The ball curved from right to left but just missed the top crossbar as it dipped. The missed attempt would keep the score 0-0 moving into the second half.
 
The second opened up with more physical play from both teams and there were many more scoring opportunities, including a could-have-been highlight from Christina Morelli (Markham, Ont.) when she stopped on a dime, throwing the pursuing defenders past her, and launched a curving shot from left to right that just missed.
 
Anticipation came to a boil in the 80^th minute when three different Lions tried to break the tie. On back-to-back-to-back attempts each tried to rip the ball into what they thought was an open net, but an extended leg or head met each shot attempt, keeping the score even at zero.
 
Windsor closed out the second half dramatically when a shot got past Grant but York defender Mika Richards (Brampton, Ont.) sold out to knock the ball out of the box and preserve the tie as the final whistles blew.
 
The first half of extra time gave no separation between the two teams and the score remained 0-0.  
 
The second half of extra time showed many more opportunities for goals. In the opening few minutes the Lions had several scoring opportunities that were all squandered by Lawrence. In the 115^th minute, Grant was bailed out once again by her defenders when McIntosh also cleared a shot off the goal line.
 
With the win, the Lancers advance to the OUA Final Four Championships next weekend at Western University in London, Ont.