The York University Lions soccer teams returned home to York Lions Stadium coming off a triumphs in Guelph on Friday night, looking to continue their successful starts to the season. Both held their heads high coming into Monday's matches with unbeaten records, with the women's team standing at 3-0-2 and the men's team standing at 4-0-1 on the season.
Women's Match:
The match started off at a slow pace, with both teams struggling to find the back of the net throughout the first 45 minutes . The Lions defence in particular remained sharp, led by a number of saves by keeper Charlotte Phillips, thwarting all of the Gryphons offensive attacks. However, Guelph controlled the ball the majority of the half, pacing in both shots on goal (4-2) and corners (7-4). The pace of play began to pick up later in the half, setting the stage for an intense second half.
Coming out of halftime, both coaches looked to make adjustments in order to initiate offence. Guelph continued to press into Lions territory, and drew a penalty in the 52nd minute, loooking to open the scoring. However, Phillips continued her lights out performance, and swatted the shot from Guelph's Olivia Rizakos aside, keeping the game scoreless. However, the Gryphons pressure continued to tighten against the Lions until second-half substitute Olivia Stavropoulos banged home a goal with fifteen minutes left in the match, giving Guelph a 1-0 lead. York rallied late in the match offensively, but could not drive home the tying goal. Their best chance was denied thanks to a controversial no call by the referee after York's Nia Fleming-Thompson was tripped by Guelph goalkeeper Sabrina Spano in the box. This proved to be the difference in the match, with Guelph handing the Lions their first loss of the 2024 season.
Men's Match:
Play started out choppy between the two sides, as the defences won out early. Most of the opening half was spent in Lions territory, with the Gryphons continuously attempting to get something going against York's strong defence. However, keeper Alessio Carbone, who made numerous clutch saves under heavy pressure to keep Guelph off the board. Both sides drew free kicks off fouls in almost identical positions close to the opposing goal late in the half, but the keepers stood tall. Despite those and multiple chances, the teams went back to the locker room scoreless at the half.
Similar to the previous women's match, adjustments on either side were demanded from both coaches offensively coming out of the half. So fa this season, the Lions this season have been a stronger second half compared team, garnering more pressure late in their previous matches. However, that unfortunately was not the case Monday night. Early in the second half, a seemingly beautiful go ahead goal, vollied into the top right corner of the net by the Lions was called off due to an offside flag, to the dismay of them and their fans. The rest of the half consisted of growing frustration between the two teams, as neither side was able to piece together significant chances to open the scoring. This trend was maintained until the final whistle, as the match ended in a scoreless draw.
LOOKING AHEAD:
The women's team drops to 3-1-0, while the men's team moves to 4-0-2. Both teams will hope to bounce back from a disappointing pair of home games on the road, facing off against the Algoma Thunderbirds on September 21st and 22nd. The women's matches are scheduled for 1:00pm, with the men's matches set for 3:15 pm, streaming on OUA TV.
