The York University Lions men's soccer team is in the hunt for its third national title in four seasons this weekend as the U SPORTS championships kick off at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, B.C., on Thursday.
 
The eight-team tournament runs until Sunday, with the gold-medal final set for 2pm PT (5pm ET) at Hillside Stadium. All 11 games will be webcast on usports.live.
 
The Lions are competing at the national tournament for the fifth straight year and are in search of their third title in that stretch and fifth overall since head coach Carmine Isacco took over the reins in 2007. After winning back-to-back banners in 2014 and 2015, they were knocked out in the quarter-finals last year by the eventual champion Alberta Golden Bears and finished in sixth place.
 
After capturing their fifth OUA championship in the last 11 years this past weekend on home turf, the Lions enter the national tournament as the top seed from their conference and will begin the title hunt in the third quarter-final on Thursday at 5:30pm PT (8:30pm ET) against the host Thompson Rivers WolfPack.
 
After an uncharacteristically slow start to the season in which they lost two of their first three games, the Lions went undefeated the rest of the way to finish atop the OUA West Division for the 11^th straight year. They needed a pair of thrilling victories to qualify for the national championship, getting an 86^th-minute goal from Joey Cicchillo to defeat Western 2-1 in the quarter-finals, and then a penalty kicks victory over Ryerson in the semifinals that was only possible because surprise hero Omar Marzouk scored the tying goal with just seconds left in injury time to extend the game. The OUA final was much more clinical as Dylan Carreiro scored just before the end of the first half and Cicchillo added another in the second in a 2-0 win over Carleton.
 
For the fourth year in a row, the Lions allowed the fewest goals in the OUA West, giving up just 11 in 16 regular-season games, and they also scored more goals than the rest of the teams with 50. Leading the way was OUA West most valuable player and first-team all-star Cristian Cavallini with 15 goals in 12 games.
 
Their opponent is a team that only joined Canada West four years ago. The WolfPack went a program-best 6-3-6 in the regular season and qualified for the playoffs for the first time, where they defeated the Saskatchewan Huskies 5-1 en route to a Final Four appearance and a Canada West bronze medal.
 
In addition to the Lions, two other participating teams have previously hoisted the Sam Davidson Memorial Trophy. UBC leads the way with 13 championships, including back-to-back titles in 2012 and 2013, and UNB captured their lone banner in 1980.
 
The winner of Thursday's quarter-final will advance to the championship semifinal on Friday night at 7:30pm PT (10:30pm ET) against either the AUS champion Cape Breton Capers or the RSEQ finalist UQAM Citadins, while the loser will fall to the consolation side of the draw and will play again on Friday at 1:30pm PT (4:30pm ET).
 
The other quarter-final match-ups will see the Canada West champion Thunderbirds face the AUS finalist Varsity Reds, and the RSEQ champion Montreal Carabins take on the Ravens.