The York University Lions' men's soccer team got its Thursday night game against the No. 9 nationally-ranked McMaster Marauders off to an exciting start with Milan Beader opening the scoring in the second minute of play en route to a dominant 5-2 victory over their fiercest rivals.
 
The crowd at Alumni Field, made up of more than 2,000 fans in attendance as part of the annual Frosh Frenzy festivities, was thrilled by the terrific start and the high energy in the air remained throughout the game.
 
The Lions took the field unranked in the U SPORTS top 10 for the first time since 2010 and were the underdogs against the No. 9 Marauders, but they played like the favourites early and rolled to their third victory of the season.
 
The Lions' scoring streak was continued by Cristian Cavallini (Woodbridge, Ont.) with an assist by Steve Kloutsouniotis (Markham, Ont.) in the 20^th minute, followed by a penalty kick by Jonathan Lao (Unionville, Ont.) in the 24^th minute.
 
Then it was the Marauders' turn to score, with Yunus Mollayev stepping up to score in the 26^th minute. The Lions took the ball back with Dylan Carreiro (Brampton, Ont.) scoring, assisted by Lao, just before the half.
 
The Lions led over the Marauders 4-1 at halftime.
 
The Marauders started the second half with a goal by Anand Sergeant two minutes into playing time. Cavallini took the Lions scoring back with a goal in the 78^th minute, which would be the final goal of the game and his second of the night.
 
The win brought the Lions' record to 3-2-0 on the season and the Marauders fell to the same record.
 
Lions goalkeeper Mike Argyrides made 10 saves, and McMaster counterpart Giacinto Di Domenico made seven saves.
 
In their next contest, the Lions take on the Laurier Golden Hawks Friday in Waterloo, Ont., and will host the Brock Badgers on Sunday, Sept. 17 at 3:15pm at Alumni Field in their next home game.