The York University Lions field hockey team had a magical regular season and will now look to turn that into their first Ontario University Athletics (OUA) banner in 21 years this weekend when the squad hosts the conference championships at Alumni Field.
 
The eight-team tournament gets underway on Friday morning with the quarter-final matches and will wrap up on Sunday afternoon with the gold-medal contest.
 
The Lions went 11-1 in the regular season to finish atop the OUA standings, six points clear of the rest of the field. They have earned the top seed in the tournament and will face off against the McMaster Marauders in the first quarter-final on Friday.
 
The Lions dominated their opponents throughout the regular season, scoring more goals and allowing fewer than any other team in the conference. Their 51 goals scored was nearly double the 26 they netted last year, and that surge is thanks in large part to super freshman Jaslan Stirling. She won the OUA scoring race, finishing with 19 goals including five in the season finale, and earned OUA and U SPORTS athlete of the week honours along the way.
 
Another trio of Lions were also major offensive contributors and finished among the top 10 in OUA scoring. Fellow rookies Frankie St. Louis and Madison Mitchell had five goals apiece and Montana Merante finished with six.
 
McMaster did not play in the OUA regular season and therefore the two teams did not meet. They did face off in pre-season action, with York emerging victorious by a 6-0 score.
 
The host Lions will be looking to dethrone the three-time defending OUA champion Toronto Varsity Blues, who failed to finish first in the regular season for the first time in three years. Instead, they are the third seeds after a 6-3-3 record, including a pair of losses to the Lions that represented York's first wins over Toronto since 1999. Their opponent in the first round will be the sixth-seeded McGill Martlets, who went 3-9 in the regular season, with one of their victories coming over the Blues.
 
The other traditional powerhouse in the OUA is the Guelph Gryphons, who have lost to the Blues in the conference final in each of the last three years. They went 8-1-3 this season and were the only team to defeat the Lions, while their lone loss came to York. As the second seeds, they will be favoured to reach the final for the fourth straight year and will begin their tournament against the seventh-seeded Waterloo Warriors, a squad that went 1-9-2 and was outscored 60-9 in the regular season.
 
The final match-up of the quarter-final round features the fourth-seeded Queen's Gaels (4-6-2) against the fifth-seeded Western Mustangs (3-7-2). The Gaels earned just one more win and three more points in the standings and the two teams split their season series, ensuring a tight battle on the field.
 
COMPLETE SCHEDULE
 

Friday, Oct. 27
Game 1	9am	No. 1 York	4	No. 8 McMaster	1
Game 2	11am	No. 3 Toronto	2	No. 6 McGill	0
Game 3	1pm	No. 4 Queen's	2	No. 5 Western	0
Game 4	3pm	No. 2 Guelph	11	No. 7 Waterloo	0
Saturday, Oct. 28
Game 5	9am	Winner Gm 1 - No. 1 York	vs.	Winner Gm 3 - No. 4 Queen's
Game 6	11am	Winner Gm 2 - No. 3 Toronto	vs.	Winner Gm 4 - No. 2 Guelph
Game 7	1pm	Loser Gm 1 - No. 8 McMaster	vs.	Loser Gm 3 - No. 5 Western
Game 8	3pm	Loser Gm 2 - No. 6 McGill	vs.	Loser Gm 4 - No. 7 Waterloo
Sunday, Oct. 29
Game 9	9am	Loser of Gm 7	vs.	Loser of Gm 8	7/8
Game 10	11am	Winner of Gm 7	vs.	Winner of Gm 8	5/6
Game 11	1pm	Loser of Gm 5	vs.	Loser of Gm 6	Bronze
Game 12	3pm	Winner of Gm 5	vs.	Winner of Gm 6	Gold