In the opening round of the 2023 U SPORTS men's soccer championships, the No. 8-seed York University Lions didn't score, falling in heartbreaking fashion to the No. 1-seed Mount Royal Cougars on a goal in the 89th minute and seeing their hopes of a national championship vanish.
This time around, the Lions entered the championships as the No. 6 seed after the OUA championship loss to the nationals hosts, the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks. They took on the AUS-champion St. FX X-Men in the opening round of the 2024 tournament on Thursday morning from Vaso's Field in Oshawa in a rematch of the 2023 consolation final, which the Lions took by a 3-1 scoreline.
The Lions were looking to change their first-round fortunes not only in the goal-scoring department but also in the win-loss column, shooting for their first trip to the national semi-finals since their last national championship in 2015.
And change them they did.
It took the red and white until just the sixth minute to break the ice. In what was the climax of a dominant start for York, Ryan Robinson flew down the left flank and sent a right-footed cross into the box, where Christian Zeppieri's original shot was stopped. However, rookie Yigal Bruk was Johnny on the spot at the side of the goal and chipped home the opening goal to give the Lions the early lead.
They continued to control the pace of play throughout the majority of the first half, with Robinson using that near wing to his advantage on several occasions to generate chances for his side. The best chance for the X-Men came in the 40th minute on a shot by Samuel Barrowcliffe from the near side, but a lunging save by Lions keeper Alessio Carbone kept the Lions up a goal at the break.
The X-Men came out of the locker room and looked to get on the board with some early chances, but the Lions back line held strong, continuing to pressure the ball and get into shooting lanes. Illustrative of the Lions solid defending, only the Barrowcliffe opportunity late in the first half was registered as a shot on target for the X-Men until their added-time tally to get to within one.
But, prior to that, recently-crowned winner of the Joe Johnson Memorial Trophy as U SPORTS Men's Soccer Player of the Year Christian Zeppieri was gifted a penalty in the 65th minute on the last of a series of plays in the box that could have been deemed a penalty throughout the 90. The Lions striker stepped up to the spot and made no mistake, the St. FX keeper Samuel Diltz unable to even react until the ball was behind him, to give York some much-needed insurance and a 2-0 lead.
That extra goal would prove to be all-the-more important in the first minute of added time when Kyle Cordeiro played a ball ahead that went high in the air and onto the foot of Logon Rieck. He walked in the box, played it around the Lions defence and lobbed it over the reach of Carbone to get the X-Men on the board and set up a frantic final few minutes for the Lions.
However, the Lions would not allow anything else to materialize for the X-Men over the final three minutes of stoppage time as they held on for the 2-1 victory, advancing to the U SPORTS semi-final for the first time in nine years and guaranteeing themselves a chance at a national medal.
LOOKING AHEAD:
York will play the winner of Thursday's Mount Royal-Montreal quarter-final on Friday at 4:00 pm. A win Friday sends them to Sunday afternoon's U SPORTS gold medal game, while a loss places them in the bronze medal match on Sunday morning.
