The York University Lions men's soccer team was looking to punch their ticket to the U SPORTS gold medal game for the first time in a decade on Friday afternoon, and, in so doing, exact a little bit of revenge.
The Lions collided with the Montreal Carabins in the national semi-finals on a gloomy Friday afternoon at Varsity Stadium.of the 2024 semi which the Carabins won by a slim 2-1 margin, scoring two unanswered goals over a six-minute span straddling the two halves to advance to the U SPORTS final and send the Lions to the bronze medal match (which they would win over the McGill Redbirds).
York was looking for the opportunity to play for a different-coloured medal this time around, and their quest got off to an ideal start in the 15th minute. After Matthew Fischer fanned on a shot in the box, he attempted to follow up the chance and was taken down by Wesley-Yves Wandje-Djomze. The referee ruled it a penalty, much to this dismay of the Carabins and many of their fans, allowing Christian Zeppieri to step up to the spot and bury his third of the tournament to give the Lions a 1-0 lead.
Montreal then thought it had equalized just four minutes later on a goal by Sami McDuff. However, the Carabins Maxime Filion took down Matthew Mederios allowing the ball to go through to McDuff, and the official called him for a foul, nullifying the goal and keeping the Lions in the lead. Just seconds before the half, right after a couple other glorious chances, Calain Calaidjoglu ripped one from about five yards beyond the top of the box that went right off the near post and wide. Despite coming close to knotting things up on multiple occasions, particularly late in the opening half, the Carabins went into the break still down 1-0.
The Lions came out in the second half and owned the possession game for much of the early portion of the second 45. They were rewarded with an insurance goal thanks to a little bit of good fortune. Fischer sent a cross into the near side that was looking for Ryan Robinson, but it went off Zacharie Belamri and trickled past Carabins keeper Joakim Milli and in to double the Lions lead and bring them another step closer to their first U SPORTS championship final in 10 years.
The Lions backed into a defensive posture while up a pair, and generated little offensively. However, despite giving up some chances, Michael Williams stood tall in goal to keep the Carabins off the scoreboard. Montreal boasted a 9-3 advantage in shots on goal and a 17-7 advantage in total shots, but the Lions – off a penalty and an own goal – were opportunistic and played a solid overall game, earning a 2-0 win to advance to their first gold medal match at the U SPORTS championships since winning it all on home turf in 2015.
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Lions will battle either the UQTR Patriotes or Mount Royal Cougars in Sunday's final. Those two teams face off in the second semi-final on Friday night, which begins at 7:00 pm. As for Sunday's game, it gets under way at 2:00 pm. You can get your tickets here or stream the game on CBC Gem and the CBC Sports YouTube channel.
