Women's Soccer | 10/14/2025 4:46:00 PM
The York University Lions women's soccer team will make the trip down to Hamilton on Wednesday night to meet the McMaster Marauders in the first round of the OUA playoffs, looking to go on another deep postseason push.
Last season, the Lions were the four seed in the OUA West and hosted the Windsor Lancers in Round 1. That game ended 1-0, and was the springboard for a playoff run that ended in heartbreak – a last-second loss to Nipissing in the OUA semi-finals, a game which, had they won it, would have punched York's second ticket to the U SPORTS championships in three years.
12 months later, the Lions are looking to do the same thing, with a slightly different ending. They will open up at Ron Joyce Stadium against the No. 3 seed Marauders, looking to take the first step towards getting back to Hamilton and the U SPORTS championships, which will be held on that same pitch from Nov. 6-9.
While the path will be slightly trickier this time around, as the Lions showed last year, they can beat some of the top teams in the OUA. In fact, they beat the top team in the West in the quarters, the Western Mustangs – a team that hadn't lost all season. Should the Lions win Wednesday, they will get another shot at Western, who, despite finishing tied with Guelph for tops in the divison, will be the No. 2 seed based on head-to-head record.
However, for any of the above to be relevant, the Lions will need to take care of business on the road against a tough Marauders team. McMaster finished the season 7-3-2 and on an eight-match unbeaten streak stretching back to Sept. 19. Though, while the Marauders appear to be peaking at the right time, the Lions handed them one of their three losses – in their first game of the season – while the teams played to a 1-1 draw in Hamilton on Sept. 7.
What does that say? That, like last year, where the Lions opponent finished in the standings won't matter to them. In the playoffs, anything can happen and the Lions will look to prove that once again Wednesday night.
Kickoff from Hamilton is set for 7:00 pm on Wednesday night, and can be streamed live, free of charge on OUA TV.
