The York University Lions women's soccer team hosted their season opener at York Lions Stadium on Thursday night against the Laurier Golden Hawks, in this the first leg of the York Orientation Game Presented by Domino's Pizza. A strong York team looked to start the season hot with a season-opening victory after being eliminated in the OUA semi-finals last season. However, they would have to do it without reigning OUA West MVP Nia Fleming-Thompson and starting goalkeeper Charlotte Phillips.
The first 20 minutes saw York control ball possession, but they struggled to move it past midfield. In the 20th minute, Laurier's Jada Johnson found a tipped pass right in front of the net and sent it into the back left corner past Lions keeper Rumaysa Khan, a transfer from the Calgary Dinos, to put the Hawks up 1-0 and put the pressure on the Lions early in the match. Although holding off any other Laurier advances in the first half, including a free kick foul committed by Giuliana Paolella which resulted in a yellow card, the Lions had a hard time generating offence.
Their best chance came on for a late break chance out wide for Sienna Caesar that was pushed away by Laurier's keeper, Mya Brodrecht. Finishing the first 45 minutes of play with only 2 shots on goal and without a corner, the halftime break provided York with a chance to recover and work towards equalizing the match in the second half.
York just did that, as Paolella controlled a long pass down the left side and managed to close in behind the defence, finishing with a short side strike past Brodrecht to give the Lions the equalizer and tie the game at 1-1 in the 48th minute. Giving York the momentum, they quickly found two corner kicks, where a pair of close chances put pressure on the Golden Hawks. NCAA transfer Joanna Abdelmalak later found three straight shots in a matter of seconds inside the Laurier box, but they were all blocked by a wall of defenders.
The goal-scorer Paolella drew her second yellow card of the game in the 62nd minute, stalling out the Lions and forcing them to play the rest of the match shorthanded. With York forced into their own zone in the 68th minute, a cross came into the box and landed on the foot of Laurier's Jessica Breda, who fired a low strike into the back right corner of the net, giving the visitors back the lead at 2-1. With Laurier shifting to a defensive-minded approach to fend off the still-shorthanded Lions in the final 20 minutes, York struggled to create any notable chances. Although picking up the pace of play in the final 10 minutes with some aggressive attacks, the Lions could not find the equalizer and ended up dropping their first game of the season in a 2-1 final.
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Lions will look to bounce back in a rematch with the purple and gold on Sunday, August 31st in Waterloo. Kick-off is scheduled for 4:00pm, with coverage available on OUA TV.
