Field Hockey | 10/3/2025 10:00:00 AM
The York University Lions field hockey team will take on the McGill Martlets for a pair of matches this weekend at Alumni Field, as they look to find their way back into the win column.
The Lions dropped their first game of the season on Sunday to the Waterloo Warriors, in a 2-1 game that featured some regression by a Lions offence that had been firing on all cylinders. In their previous two games – victories over the Western Mustangs and McMaster Marauders, the Lions had scored 12 goals. That was all done while conceding none, as the two hallmarks of the Lions program collided for their first two wins of 2025.
However, despite the offence being somewhat inconsistent at times on the young season, one constant has been reigning York female athlete of the week Kathryn Carlow. The third-year's six goals lead the OUA and are twice as many as the second-place goal-getter. Carlow has scored in each of the Lions four games thus far this season, and has accounted for 43% of her team's goals in 2025.
The Lions will look to rediscover some of their offensive flare against a McGill team they have owned in the last several years. Since 2010, the Lions have gone 20-2-4 against the Martlets, including 14 wins in a row going back to the 2016 season. The last time the Lions didn't beat McGill was a scoreless draw on Oct. 25, 2015, while the last time they lost to the Martlets was Oct. 16, 2011. To put it another way, head coach Zeeshan Minhas has never lost a game to the Martlets, boasting a 17-0-3 career record against the OUA's lone Quebec-based bunch.
Minhas and the Lions don't plan on that changing this time around, against a McGill team yet to score a goal in four games this season and one that has surrendered 19 over that span. These are games the Lions need to win against a team they're clearly better than. While the sit atop the OUA East division standings, they're not currently in a position to host the OUA final four, as they sit third in the overall standings behind the top two teams in the West, both of whom are undefeated: the Guelph Gryphons and Waterloo Warriors.
The Lions opportunity to start stacking wins begins this weekend, before they are scheduled to play the Queen's Gaels, who are currently on hiatus – games that, if not played, would be recorded as 1-0 York wins. However, the Lions can only focus on what's directly in font of them, and that is a Martlets group they should beat, but one they can't take lightly.
Saturday's match begins at 4:00 pm, with Sunday's rematch going at 11:00 am. Admission to both games is free.
