At the beginning of the week, the York University Lions field hockey team felt infallible, having not allowed a goal over six straight wins, and one win away from setting a program record for most shutouts in a row – 7. 

However, a 1-0 loss Wednesday to the Toronto Varsity Blues ended hopes of setting that record. Thier next goal was to maintain grips on the top spot in the OUA standings and earn the right to host the OUA final four the last weekend of October. 

In order to do that, however, they needed a win in Sunday's rematch with Toronto. While a loss didn't mathematically eliminate the possibility of York hosting the OUA championships, they would need to Toronto to lose both its remaining games to finish first. The problem: Toronto's opponent for the final two games, McGill, hasn't won a game since 2017. That in mind, York was best served to take care of business from here on out. 

However, the visitors from down Line 1 had other ideas. Just under six minutes into the game, Toronto's Ziara Scaringi beat York netminder Jade Lew to give the Varsity Blues the lead. 

The Lions were the beneficiaries of five penalty corners in the opening quarter alone, but were unable to break through the Toronto defence, trailing 1-0 after one quarter. 

Once Toronto got the lead, the Lions defence was near perfect, allowing just one shot the rest of the way and not allowing the Blues to extend their lead. The Toronto defence was just as good, however, as the Lions were unable to find the equalizer in what was their second striaght 1-0 loss to their downtown rivals. 

LOOKING AHEAD: 

The Lions wrap up the season with a pair of games against the Queen's Gaels. A win or a tie vs. Queen's clinches second place in the East and no worse than third in the OUA. However, if York loses both games to Queen's, they will fall to third in the East and could fall to fourth overall with a Waterloo win over Guelph. Both matches with Queen's begin at 1:00 pm, starting Saturday for senior day at Alumni Field before the scene shifts to Kingston next Sunday.