Women's Rugby | 9/19/2025 12:00:00 PM
The York University women's rugby team is getting set to battle the Toronto Varsity Blues looking to earn a second straight victory and the tiebreaker over the Blues who sit tied with Brock for the final playoff spot in the OUA.
York staged a second-half rally to beat the Waterloo Warriors last week, and it could have been the turning point of their season. The Lions, even at 1-2, find themselves in a position where, all going well, they could still control their own destiny. While a win in this game helps, the Lions remaining two matches are against a winless Trent Excalibur team and a Brock Badgers team also sitting at 1-2 against whom, with a win, the Lions would own the tiebreaker.
However, there is a lot to take care of before they get there, and it begins with the Blues. York will be looking to avenge a season-ending loss to Toronto a year ago that knocked them out of the playoffs. Had the Lions beaten the Varsity Blues in the season finale, they would have earned the sixth and final playoff spot and made the postseason for the first time since 2019.
Toronto, as mentioned, also comes into play Saturday 1-2. However, their path to that mark has been slightly different than that of their rivals to the north. Toronto opened with a forfeit loss to the Queen's Gaels (which goes down as a 20-0 score), before they lost to Waterloo (a team York beat, albeit by the slimmest of margins), to fall to 0-2. They then beat the Trent Excalibur 52-43 for their only win, taking down a Trent team that had been outscored 192-0 in its first two matches by only nine.
All that to say: while on paper, these teams' records are identical, this has to feel like a real opportunity for the Lions. That is especially the case when you consider their next game is a home date with Trent. While the cliche of 'one game at a time,' obviously is a cliche for a reason, and is sound advice, the Lions have a legitimate chance to be 3-2 heading into the season finale at Brock.
York will, it seems, have a chance to put up points in this game, something they have, at times, struggled to do in the first half of the year. Perhaps this game will help form the offensive recipe for the Lions, led by the likes of the two Lions to win York female athlete of the week in Mistura Are and Lucy Boronka. However, the bigger key will be keeping points off the board on the other side against a Toronto team that has put up 78 points in the two matches it played, not including the forfeit. If they can do that – and score enough to win against a team that has shown some defensive liabilities – they will put themselves in a very good position.
Kickoff in what will be a measuring stick game for the Lions, takes place is set for 7:30 pm on Saturday night from Varsity Stadium.
