The No. 9 nationally ranked York University Lions women's hockey team suffered a 4-3 loss to the Nipissing Lakers on Friday evening at Memorial Arena in North Bay, Ont.
 
The two squads are in a fierce battle for playoff positioning in the OUA standings and the win moved the Lakers two points ahead of the Lions and with a game in hand. Nipissing now sits second in the conference and the Lions are tied for third with the Waterloo Warriors.
 
York and Nipissing traded goals back and forth in a busy first period. The Lions opened the scoring less than four minutes in on a tally by Ava Ricker-Singh, but 49 seconds later the score was tied again as Malory Dominico found the back of the net for the home team.
 
The Lions again took the lead at 11:34 on a goal by Julia McLennan, but less than two minutes before the end of the frame the Lakers again levelled the score, this time on a goal scored by Maria Dominico. The two teams entered the first intermission with two goals apiece.
 
Jetta Derenoski gave the Lakers their first lead of the game two minutes into the second period, and they held it for more than 10 minutes, when Kelsey McHolm scored a shorthanded tally to make it 3-3.
 
The score remained that way for nearly 20 full minutes of game action stretching past the middle of the third period. The deadlock was finally broken at 11:59 on a power play goal by Brianna Gaffney, giving the Lakers a 4-3 lead. The Lions pushed for the equalizer but could not score before time ran out.
 
The Lions will remain in northern Ontario for another game on Saturday, when they face the Laurentian Voyageurs in Sudbury. Puck drop is set for 4pm at Countryside Arena.