The No. 5 nationally-ranked York University Lions women's soccer team earned a 2-0 victory over the No. 9 Laurier Golden Hawks in its home opener on Saturday afternoon (Sept. 3) at Alumni Field.
Prior to last year, the Lions had not defeated the Golden Hawks since 2009 but they are now riding a three-game winning streak over their division rivals. The Lions are still undefeated on the year at 3-0-0 while the Golden Hawks fell to 0-1-2 with the loss.
Third-year forward
Christina Morelli (Markham, Ont.) opened the scoring in the 18
th minute, finding the back of the net after a beautiful cross into the box from rookie forward
Sia Papadopoulos (Maple, Ont.).
Nour Ghoneim (Aurora, Ont.), the reigning CIS player of the year, had two early chances that she couldn't convert but finally capitalized in the 64
th minute, finishing off a great pass from
Dina Ricco (Bolton, Ont.) for a 2-0 lead.
That was all the Lions would need, as goalkeeper
Taylor Grant (Brampton, Ont.) stood tall and made five saves for the clean sheet.
Laurier goalkeeper Ashley Almeida faced 10 shots on goal and made eight saves.
The Lions will be back in action on Wednesday (Sept. 7) when they travel to Hamilton, Ont., to face the McMaster Marauders at Ron Joyce Stadium. Kick-off is set for 6pm.
