Women's Rugby | 10/2/2025 2:00:00 PM

The York University Lions women's rugby team is heading back to the playoffs for the first time since 2019, and has one more tune-up left before the playoffs begin. That comes Friday against the Brock Badgers.

After dropping their first two games of the season, the Lions have won three in a row to put themselves firmly in a playoff position heading into the final game of the season. They have scored 124 points over their last two games, including a 64-31 win over the Trent Excalibur in their home finale on Saturday to put the program above the .500 mark for the first time since 2019, which also happens to be the last time they made the postseason.

York currently sits in a tie for fourth in the OUA with the Laurier Golden Hawks in both wins (three) and points (15), but would be the fifth seed – and thus travel to Laurier in the OUA quarter-finals – as a result of losing the season opener to the Hawks on Aug. 30, if the teams end the season tied in wins and points, as they do right now.

However, if the Lions beat Brock (moving them to 4-2), they would finish tied with the winner of the Western and Guelph game, as well as perhaps Laurier, should they beat Toronto. In that case, the tie would be broken via point differential against common opponents, the lone one being Trent. Western would earn the No. 3 seed with their +78 differential, followed by Laurier in the No. 4 seed with a +58 differential, with the Lions being the No. 5 seed with a +33 differential.

There is also a scenario where three teams – the Lions, Golden Hawks and Badgers – finish tied at 3-3, meaning a Brock win over York and a Laurier loss Toronto. In this case, Brock would need to win with at least four tries and hope neither the Lions nor Hawks earn bonus points. Otherwise, the Badgers would remain sixth, while York could pass Laurier if they earn more bonus points than the Golden Hawks in their final game. If all three teams finish tied in wins and points, the tie would be broken through point difference in common opponents. In that scenario, the three teams' lone common opponent is also the Trent Excalibur, with Brock having the highest point differential (+114), followed by Laurier (+58) and York (+33).

However, should Laurier lose to the Varsity Blues by more than seven points and the Lions win over Brock or lose by seven or less points, they will finish fourth and host an opening round game against either Laurier or Brock, dependent on point differential against common opponents for the Golden Hawks and Badgers.

So, while seeding and location are far from determined, one thing is for sure: the Lions are playoff bound, and their road back to relevance over the last two seasons has been nothing short of spectacular under 2024 OUA coach of the year Spencer Robinson. How well they fare in the playoffs remains to be seen, but for a young team coming off a stretch from 2021-23 in which they won just a single game, their 5-6 mark over the past two seasons is indicative of the shift the program needed.

While there is still business to take care of, the fruits of their labour have been bared in simply making the dance here in year two of the Robinson era. Anything else will be a cherry in the fruit cup.

Friday's game begins at 7:00 pm from Brock Alumni Field.