After finishing the regular season with an 8-1-3 record – good enough for top spot in the OUA West and a round one bye – the York University Lions men's soccer team hosted the Guelph Gryphons on Wednesday night in one of four OUA quarter-finals.
Both teams came out in a defensive posture, allowing very little towards their goals. The ball spent much of the opening 45 minutes in the York half of the pitch, but they managed to limit scoring chances, save for a shot by Andrew Tinmouth. He ripped a shot from the left side that Alessio Carbone took off the face to keep the game goalless.
York had some chances of their own in the first half, but only one of six shots was on target. That came courtesy of Yigal Bruk, but he was turned away by keeper Jacob Findlay. The game remained scoreless at the break.
The best chances of the second half came off a pair of cross bars from the Gryphons hit a pair of crossbars within a five minute stretch just beyond the hour mark. First, Andrew Tinmouth rang one off the bar, down and out in the 65th minute, and then in the 70th minute, Brandon Robinson also hit the bar. Those two near misses kept the home side alive, and after the next 20 minutes elapsed without a goal, the game moved into extra time.
Very little occurred in either extra session, with both sides seemingly content to play for a penalty shootout. Much of the extra frame was spent on the outside and in the middle third of the pitch. Guelph took four yellow cards in extra time, but the Lions were unable to take advantage of any of the free kick opportunities and the game headed to penalties to decide who would advance to the OUA semi-final.
The first seven combined shooters all scored for their respective teams in the shootout, with the Lions getting goals Ryan Robinson, Daniel Avila and James Fidalgo and Matthew Fischer. After Guelph's Peyton Ferdinand had his penalty stopped, Matthew Medeiros had a chance to win it for the Lions and he buried it past Findlay, giving the Lions goals on all five penalties and sending them to the OUA semi by a score of 0-0 (5-3 PK's).
LOOKING AHEAD:
With the win, the Lions will host the TMU Bold in the OUA semi-final on Saturday with the winner of that game set to host the OUA championship on Nov. 2. Stay tuned to yorkulions.ca for updates on game time and ticket sale information.
