Box Score In a huge boost for their playoff aspirations, the York University Lions women's hockey team pulled off their most decisive win of the 2021-22 season, downing the Rams 5-2 on the road Wednesday night at Mattamy Athletic Centre.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Lions got on the board after fending off multiple Rams chances in the game's early going. After Sydney Paulson took an early body checking penalty, Courtney Gardiner out-muscled a defender and fire a shot past Rams goaltender Rachel Seeley.
• The Rams responded with a goal under two minutes later on the power play, but then the Lions got a power play marker of their own beyond the halfway mark of the period. Madison Davey took a Sydney Paulson pass and rifled a shot for her second of the year at 11:45.
• While the Rams would tie the game before the end of the first, York took the lions's share of the offence from there on out. Two goals in the second from Julia Cuccia and Ava Ricker-Singh respectively put the Lions ahead 4-2 going into the final 20.
• Cuccia's tally would stand as the game winner, with York adding a power play goal late in the game from Gardiner to put an exclamation point on the crucial victory.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• Five goals is the largest goal total of the season for the Lions, surpassing their previous high of four, which was earned in a 4-3 overtime win over Ontario Tech on Feb. 11. 

LOOKING AHEAD
 
While the win helps the Lions solidify a playoff spot, this weekend's games will determine whether they or the Queen's Gaels advance to the play-in round of the OUA playoffs. The Lions have vaulted ahead of Queen's with the win, meaning they need a split of the two games to lock down the fifth and final playoff spot in the OUA East Division.
 
The teams will play a home-and-home on Mar. 4 and 5, beginning with a road game at the Memorial Centre in Kingston, Ont., Friday night.