The York University Lions men's soccer team battled back from a two-goal deficit against the Trinity Western Spartans in the second-half, but fell 4-2 in penalty kicks in the U SPORTS quarterfinals on Thursday at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C. The loss marks the second year in a row the Lions have fallen in the U SPORTS quarterfinal match and means they will play the remainder of the tournament in the consolation side of the bracket.
 
Trinity Western opened the game strong keeping the Lions pinned in their own end in the first five minutes and had an early corner kick but couldn't capitalize. A few minutes later Lions midfielder Dylan Carreiro had the first chance for the Lions as he broke down the left side of the field and worked his way around a Spartans defender but fired a shot wide left of the Spartans goal.
 
In the 11^th minute Lions defender Francesco Sinopoli made a brilliant play off a Spartans corner, as the corner kick was deflected towards the net off a Spartans forward's header, but Sinopoli was there to deflect the ball wide and keep the score at 0-0. The teams traded chances through the next 15 minutes, with Trinity Western having a glorious chance to score during the 26^th minute, but Lions goaltender Mike Argyrides made his best save of the match up to that point, sprawling to his left to make a diving save off a strike from the top of the box.
 
In the 30^th, minute Spartans goalie Sebastian Colyn made a diving save of his own off of Lions striker Omar Marzouk, as the Lions leading-scorer cut to his left around the Spartans defence and put a left footed shot towards the net that Colyn dove to his left to stop. Just before the half the Lions had another great chance to score when midfielder Cristian Cavallini corralled a loose ball off a corner kick but drove the ball just over the Spartans net as the two teams went into halftime scoreless.
 
The Spartans opened the scoring in the 54^th minute off a corner kick by Leighton Johnson. The forward curled the ball straight into the goal just inside the left post to give Trinity Western a 1-0 lead. The Spartans made it 2-0 just six minutes later off another Johnson corner kick, this time on a deflection by defender Noah Kroeker. Argyrides kept the Lions in the game with a diving stop off the foot of Spartans forward Domenic Poletto a few minutes later as the urgency in the Lions game was picking up.
 
With the Lions down a player as a result of a red card to midfielder Steve Kloutsouniotis, the Lions refused to roll over as they continued to pressure the Spartans and got their opportunity to pull within one after Marzouk was fouled inside the box in the 68^th minute. Midfielder Cristian Cavallini stepped up to take the penalty kick and made no mistake putting it past Colyn to make the score 2-1. Cavallini wasn't done there, as he took a crossing pass from Jorgo Nika and headed the ball high over Colyn on a highlight-reel goal to tie the game at 2-2 in the 72^nd minute.
 
The game remained scoreless through the rest of the regulation time and the teams headed to extra time. Both teams had their chances in the first 15-minute overtime period but were unable to put the game on ice. During the second overtime, the Lions played defensively for the majority of the time as Trinity Western controlled most the of play, but they did have a great scoring chance as time was winding down off the foot of Nick Lucchetto, who subbed in for Marzouk in the 109^th minute. Lucchetto dribbled around Colyn, who came out of his net to challenge the oncoming player, and shot it towards the open goal but a Spartans defender got in the way to keep the game tied and send it to penalty kicks.
 
The Spartans were the first to shoot converting on their first attempt, while midfielder Maurizio Ragone rang the first Lions attempt off the cross-bar to give the Spartans the early advantage. After the next two shooters on both teams made good on their attempts, the Lions saw some life as Johnson missed for the Spartans on a ball that hit the cross-bar and came straight down but not passed the goal line. Cavallini was up next for the Lions and floated his shot past Colyn but again hit the crossbar to keep the OUA champions down by one. Forward Cody Fransen clinched the win on the Spartans fifth and final attempt as he drove it past Argyrides to claim the win 4-2 in penalty kicks.
 
With the loss the Lions will play the remainder of the tournament in the consolation side of the bracket. They will play tomorrow at 11am PT (2pm ET) against the loser of the game between the Montreal Carabins and UNB Varsity Reds. York midfielder Emmanuel Zambazis was named player of the game for the Lions while Johnson was named player of the game for the Spartans.