The York University Lions men's soccer team is no stranger to playing in the final OUA game of the season, and they did so again on a brisk Saturday evening on the first day of November at Varsity Stadium. The all-Toronto matchup between the Lions and Varsity Blues was the first finals matchup between the two teams since 2010, a match the Lions dropped in penalties.
Despite making their 11th trip in 12 years – and third consecutive – to the final, the Lions were looking for their first banner since 2018, having lost four straight gold medal games coming in.
Chances were few and far between, as the two top teams in the OUA went head-to-head, with the two OUA first team all-star keepers in York's Michael Williams and Toronto's Filip Zendelek lined up opposite each other on the OUA's biggest stage.
York's best chance of the first half came in the 37th minute when Yigal Bruk ran onto a ball on the left side and made a couple of moves to create a shooting lane, but Zendelek was equal to the task, keeping it level.
Moments later, off a Lions clearing attempt from a Varsity Blues throw-in, the ball was headed forward to Russell Stewart, who stayed onside and sent a beautiful cross into the box for Michael Osorio, but he was robbed by a sprawling Williams, denying the Blues of the opening goal. Earlier in the half, Williams made another great save of Jordan Grey in the 29th minute, as Grey took a long ball up the pitch, walked in and fired a laser that Williams got in front of for his first big save of the match.
The game remained scoreless at the break. Matthew Fischer had a chance to give the Lions the lead in the 57th minute, but sailed his shot high over Zendelek's cage. The Blues took the ball back down the pitch and Toronto's Kingsley Belele took a shot from a difficult angle in tight on Williams, but the Lions keeper made the stop. In the 62nd minute, three-time-defending OUA West MVP Christian Zeppieri had his best chance of the day, but sent it high over the goal. In the 66th minute, Toronto's best chance of the second half saw Andrea Schifano try to go across crease on Williams into the far corner, but he missed just wide of the post. In the 75th minute, Justin Cicchillo and Fischer played a nice give-and-go, but Fischer was denied by Zendelek. Then, in the 77th, a near-catastrophic turnover by the Varsity Blues landed right on the foot of Bruk, but he was stoned by Zendelek, before Fischer's follow-up attempt with Zendelek out of position was cleared off the line by Blues captain Alexei Ivanov.
The visitors continued to dominate possession, with OUA West rookie of the year Marco Sciortino taking a feed and walking in down the right side, but Zendelek once again kept his team level with another excellent save.
Early in stoppage time at the end of the second half, a nice pass from Bruk found Cichillo with room to walk into the box. Zendelek came out to challenge and made the save. Cichillo then flipped the rebound toward goal with Zendelek out of position, but missed wide. That was the best chance over the remainder of the 90, sending the match to extra time.
In the 101st minute, Anthony Morano went up for a header and the box and made contact with the head of a Varsity Blues defender, and was assessed his second yellow card of the match, leading to an automatic red. That brought the Lions down to 10 men for the reaminder of extra time. The first half of the additional session yielded nothing, sending us to the second half still scoreless.
However, Toronto wasted little time in that second half of extra time as Belele took a drop pass and fired an initial shot was blocked, but he was able to slide the rebound past Williams to give the Blues the opening goal in the 107th minute. Then, in the 112th minute, a cross-crease pass off an attack from Schifano found the foot of Medhi Essoussi, and he made no mistake to give the Blues some insurance, putting them up 2-0 and securing the Blues first OUA championship in 15 years.
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Lions will return to Varsity Stadium for the U SPORTS championships beginning Thursday. Seedings, matchups and game times for the national quarter-finals will be announced Sunday. Check yorkulions.ca for more information.
