The York University Lions women's hockey team won the OUA silver medal on Friday night after an early third period goal by Stephanie Ayres stood as the game winner for the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, giving them the McCaw Cup after a 3-1 victory in the conference final.
 
It's York's first loss of the playoffs after a landmark season in the OUA, which saw the Lions sweep both Waterloo and Nipissing for a spot in the final.
 
The win gives Toronto higher seeding in the U SPORTS national championship, which begins next week in Charlottetown, P.E.I. It will feature both the Lions and the Varsity Blues.
 
The game opened with a bang for the red and white – third-year forward Courtney Gardiner opened the scoring at 5:52 of the opening frame for York. She took a pass from Becky Higgs, used her speed to beat the Toronto defender wide, and snapped a shot past Blues netminder Erica Fryer for the game's opening goal. 
 
It was York's first goal against Toronto this season, after falling 2-0 in both previous regular season contests versus the Blues. 
 
But then, at 10:47, U of T found an equalizer on a deflection. Jessica Robichaud tipped a Christina Chao shot past Serena Vilde in the Lions goal to make the score 1-1 just beyond the halfway mark of the first.
 
That's how the score would remain heading to the second – and it would stay that way for the duration of the second period as well. Despite 14 shots and two power plays in the period, York was stymied by Fryer. She kept the score tied heading into a pivotal third. 
 
That tie would soon be broken, and it was a Toronto goal that did it. A bouncing puck bounded into the slot to a wide-open Ayres, and the Blues captain slipped a shot over Vilde's pad, giving Toronto the lead just 55 seconds into the third.
 
That would be all the Blues needed, as they held off a late charge by the Lions – which included a disallowed goal – to win their first OUA women's hockey championship since 2003.
 
York's last OUA title came in 1997.
 
Fryer was awarded player of the game honours after stopping 33 Lions shots, backstopping her team to the championship.