No points were left on the field for the York Lions this Sunday at Alumni Field. The Lions won both games of a season-opening doubleheader versus the Queen's Gales on home turf, downing the visitors 3-0 and 3-1.
 
The wins mark the first two games of the season for Zeeshan Minhas's group, which sets them up well for match-ups with the defending OUA finalist later this week.
 
It was a day which featured good defensive play by the Lions, leading to them shutting out Queen's in Game 1 and not allowing a goal until late in the sixth quarter of the day.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Game 1

• Polly Campbell got the scoring started for the Lions, scoring her first goal as a member of the Lions at 3:51 of the second quarter. Frankie St. Louis started an offensive flurry for York by firing the ball into the box, it got behind Queen's netminder Claudia Aparcio and Campbell poked the ball into the wide-open net. The score would stay that way heading to halftime.
• At the beginning of the third quarter, York went back to work on offence with a pair of chances about 30 seconds from each other, coming from the same bloodline. First, Amber Sandhu carried the ball all the way from her end to the Queen's backline, and her sharp-angle shot was stopped by Aparcio. Then, her cousin Prava Sandhu got a similar opportunity when she stickhandled through three Queen's defenders and got a shot away, but Aparcio stood tall again.
• The Lions would then add to their lead in the fourth quarter. Amber Sandhu got herself wide open in front of the net, fired a shot, Aparcio got her foot on the shot but Mackenzie Gee was in the right place to deposit the rebound, scoring at 9:31 to make it 2-0 York.
• Lexi Hannah then added another goal for the Lions just 43 seconds after Gee's marker, to give the home side a commanding 3-0 lead with time winding down, and that would be the final scoring play of the game.

Game 2

• York got the scoring started much earlier in the second game of the day. Amber Sandhu picked up where she left off, manufacturing a breakaway by outrunning the Queen's defender, her shot was stopped by Queen's keeper Sarah Cameron-Sutcliffe, then Natalie Winter deposited the rebound, making the score 1-0 Lions just 2:04 into the game.
• After Serena Vilde started in net during Game 1, rookie Jade Lew got the nod as goalkeeper in the second game. Lew came up big when she needed to, with her most notable save coming off Kira Atkinson. It was a point-blank shot that Lew stopped with a reactionary toe save at 13:41 of the third quarter, keeping the score 1-0.
• It turned out to be a big save in the context of the match, with York adding a second goal with four minutes remaining in the third quarter, expanding their lead to 2-0 on a goal by Alyssa Brooks.
• Queen's Brooke Ritchie would cut the lead in the dying seconds of the third quarter, firing a shot from the top of the box and it deflected off a York stick and past Lew, cutting the York lead in half.
• York then answered back early in the fourth off a penalty corner. Brooks fielded the ball right into the middle for Amber Sandhu, who walked in and fired home her second goal of the season, making it 3-1 York.

LOOKING AHEAD

York will get very familiar with their next opponent — they are getting set to play the Toronto Varsity Blues four times in a row. The two teams begin with a clash of undefeated squads on Wednesday, Sept. 29 and then a follow-up contest on Wednesday, Oct. 6. Both will take place at the Varsity Blues Back Campus Fields. Toronto, who are defending OUA finalists, have opened their season with three straight victories.