The York University Lions men's soccer team will look to earn their second OUA title in two years this weekend when they take on the best the OUA has to offer in the 2018 Men's Soccer Final Four Championships.
 
The four-team event will be hosted by the Carleton Ravens, the top seed from the OUA East division and all games will be played at MNP Park in Ottawa, Ont.  The semi-finals are scheduled for Friday and the gold- and bronze-medal games to be played on Saturday. All four games can be seen live online on OUA.tv. 

This year's championship will feature three of the top-five ranked teams in the country, as the No. 2 Lions (13-0-3), the No. 3 Ravens (14-1-1), and the No. 5 Ryerson Rams (14-1-1) will all be trying the bring home the OUA banner. The fourth team is the underdog Western Mustangs (7-5-4), who finished fourth in the OUA West division, but won two double overtime games in the first round against the Windsor Lancers and the OUA quarterfinal against the Guelph Gryphons to advance to the championship round. The Lions will face off against their cross-town rival the Ryerson Rams in one of the semi-final matches, while the host Ravens will play the upstart Mustangs in the other.
 
The Lions and Rams met also met last year in the OUA semi-final and played a thrilling game that was won by the Lions on penalty kicks. The Rams appeared to be headed to their first OUA final since 2013 as they led 1-0 in injury time against the Lions thanks to a 22nd-minute goal by Raheem Rose. But just seconds before the ref blew the whistle, there was a scramble in front of the net and Omar Marzouk got his head on it and put the ball behind Ryerson goalkeeper Praveen Ahilan to send the game to extra time. Marzouk, who led the Lions in goals this season with 14, was subbed into the game in the 79th minute and tallied his first career goal with the header.
 
The Lions continued their impressive regular season last weekend with a dominant 3-0 win over the Waterloo Warriors in the OUA quarterfinals. Marzouk tallied the first two goals and added an assist in the game while midfielder Cristian Cavallini put the game late with highlight-reel strike. Goalkeeper Mike Argyrides wasn't tested by the Warriors as the Lions defence kept them from registering a shot on goal in the game.
 
York comes into the game an impressive six OUA West all-stars on their roster, as defencemen Daniel Gogarty and Josh Kiselyov, midfielder Jorgo Nika, and striker Marzouk were named first team all-stars today by the OUA. Midfielder Emmanuel Zambazis and Cavallini were also named as OUA West second-team all-stars after their outstanding regular seasons.
 
The Rams meanwhile boast four OUA East all-stars of their own, including defender Alex Meczaski, and midfielders Raheem Rose and Abdallah El-Chanti on the first-team and defender Nathaniel Tambakis on the second-team. First-year defender Kai Martin was also named OUA East Rookie of the Year.
 
El-Chanti was the leading scorer (11 goals), on a Rams team that ranked second in the OUA in scoring with 45 goals on the year. They present a formidable test for the Lions both offensively and defensively, as they also finished second in the OUA in goals against with ten on the season.
 
In addition to the OUA title, the four teams are also competing for a berth at the U SPORTS Men's Soccer Championship, which will be hosted by the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver B.C., Nov. 8-11, and the winners from the two semifinals on Friday will represent the OUA.

The Lions have won six OUA titles in program history, including three in a row from 2013-15 and four total since 2007 under head coach Carmine Isacco and will be trying to make it lucky seven this weekend.

Friday, Nov. 2
3pm – Carleton Ravens vs. Western Mustangs
6pm – York Lions vs. Ryerson Rams

Saturday, Nov. 3
1pm - Bronze Medal Game
4pm - Gold Medal Game

All games will be available online at OUA.tv.