Women's Rugby | 10/22/2025 3:00:00 PM
In the wake of their best season since 2019, three members of the York University Lions women's rugby team were named OUA second team all-stars.
Prop Lucy Boronka, centre Alanna Mrkobrada and back Jahlesha Roye were selected to the all-OUA second team, as announced by the conference Wednesday afternoon. All three players played instrumental roles in a mid-season run that saw the Lions win three straight games to help lock down the program's first postseason appearence since 2019.
Boronka, a second-year history student, wins the award after coming back to play for the Lions following an eight-year hiatus. Last competing in 2017-18, the Waterloo, Ont., native scored two huge tries in the Lions 27-26 win over the Waterloo Warriors that got the Lions their first victory of the season that propelled them on that three-game win streak to propel them to the playoffs.
Mrkobrada, a third-year social work major from Newmarket, Ont., enjoyed a terrific season in 2025, that included scoring one of the Lions three tries in their narrow 27-21 OUA quarter-final loss to the Laurier Golden Hawks. She finished the regular season with five tries, among them two in a win over the Toronto Varsity Blues on Sept. 20 that got the Lions back to .500 at 2-2 on the season.
Roye, a first-year kinesiology and health science major, enjoyed a terrific rookie season and scored eight tries this season (regular and postseason), the fourth-most in the OUA. Her signature game came on Sept. 27 against the Trent Excalibur when she put up three tries in a 60-27 win that put York above the .500 mark for the first time in six years and clinched the Lions a playoff berth. The North York native finished with fourty total points, tied for the ninth-most in the OUA.
This trio becomes the first York athletes to be named OUA all-stars since 2019 when Selena McCuaig and Michela Stratton were named first team all-stars. The only other Lions to be named second teamers were Erin Van Moorsel and Michelle Smith in 1999.
