The York University Lions men's soccer team hosted the Laurier Golden Hawks in their season opener at York Lions Stadium on Thursday night, in the back half of a doubleheader for the York Orientation Game Presented by Domino's Pizza. After winning the OUA silver medal for a second straight year and earning their first national medal in nine years, the Lions – led by reigning U SPORTS player of the year Christian Zeppieri – were looking to get off on the right foot and win their second consecutive season opener.
York broke out in smooth fashion, moving the ball well early on, with an early opportunity coming on great look for Rutgers transfer Anthony Morano. York kept their presence felt in the Laurier zone, forcing a yellow card on the Hawks in the 17th minute after Christian Zeppieri was fouled.
James Fidalgo had a near miss of his own with a point-blank chance in the 30th minute, but it was tapped away at the last second by the diving Golden Hawks' keeper, David Carano. Although failing to come out of the half with a goal, the York offence led in shots 10-1 and had the vast majority of the ball possession, setting the tone for what they hoped would be a quality second half.
Out of the locker room, York's continued pressure led to another Laurier yellow card, this time on a foul by Alex Wiktorek. Lions' keeper Alessio Carbone still had to remain sharp, though, making his third save of the game off a dangerous Laurier chance while down to 10 men.
Second-half substitute Matthew Fischer nearly opened the scoring for York, taking advantage of an errant pass, but drilled it off the side of the net in the 58th minute. However, just four minutes later, they found the back of the net as Fidalgo found the ball in the middle of the pitch and dribbled up the middle before firing a missile of a shot into the top right corner of the net past Carano. Assisted by Zeppieri in the 62nd minute, the goal put York up 1-0 and equalled his goal total from all of 2024.
Carbone later made a pair of beautiful saves to keep the momentum going for the home side. This proved to be a sparkplug, as York stormed back down the field, and a floating cross from Fischer led to header from Morano that tickled the twine. His first goal in a York uniform in his Lions debut to put his team up 2-0 in the 68th minute.
Laurier nearly trimmed the deficit in half when Kourosh Jamshidi rushed up the middle alone and fired a shot along the turf that got past Carbone but rang off the post and rolled out of play, keeping the hosts up a pair. After that scare, the Lions were content to prioritise defence, and shut down the Golden Hawks in the final 15 minutes to secure a 2-0 win in the season opener.
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Lions will look to improve to 2-0 on the season in a rematch with the Golden Hawks on Sunday, August 31. Kickoff is slated for 6:15pm from Waterloo, with coverage available on OUA TV.
