Following a re-tooling year last year that ended with an OUA championship banner, the York University Lions field hockey team is looking to take the next step this season.
Their quest to repeat as OUA champions – and host the U SPORTS championships – begins Saturday as the Lions welcome in the Guelph Gryphons in a rematch of the 2022 OUA semi-final. That game saw the Lions advance by the slimmest of margins, thanks to a late-second-period goal from Lexi Hannah. That, the only goal of the game, propelled the Lions to a 1-0 win.
This time around, following a dominant regular season, the Lions will hope to make it a little easier on their hearts and those of all in attendance. York played to a 9-1 record, their only blemish coming at the hands of their cross-town rivals, the Toronto Varsity Blues.
In order to make that happen, York will depend, more than anyone else, on Hannah and second-year star Elyse Ives. They are not only the top two scorers on their team but the entire OUA with 23 and 16 points, respectively. Hannah also leads the conference with 11 goals, while Ives is tied for third with six. It's fair to say that these two will be involved in the offence in some fashion, as they account for 55% of the Lions offence this season.
Another player the Gryphons will want to key in on, however, is first-year Juliet Redelaar. On a rare day where Hannah and Ives were absent from the scoresheet, it was Redelaar who provided the entire offence for the Lions in a 2-1 victory over the Gryphons on Sept. 23. Her two goals raked in a York athlete of the week, OUA athlete of the week and U SPORTS field hockey player of the week for the period ending Sept. 24.
The other area where the Lions are between the pipes. Jade Lew started all but one game for the Lions in goal, winning 8 of her nine decisions. She allowed only seven goals in her nine starts, for a goals against average of 0.78.
As a measure of the complete team the Lions are, they only allowed those seven goals in their 10 games, the fewest in the OUA just ahead of Toronto's eight. They have prided themselves on their stinginess defensively all season long. The proof of that is no more clearly evidenced than by this: they earned four shutouts – second only to Toronto – and never allowed more than two goals in a game, something no other team in the OUA can boast.
There is a strong case to be made this Lions team is the most complete team in the last half-decade. They will look to continue proving that Saturday and, in so doing, book their second straight OUA championship ticket. The game begins at 5:00 pm from Alumni Field.
