Women's Rugby | 9/20/2025 10:47:00 PM
The York University Lions women's rugby team, travelled to Varsity Stadium to face their local rivals, the Toronto, on a chilly Saturday night under the lights. The Lions were coming off a 27-26 victory at Alumni Field last weekend against the Waterloo Warriors and were looking to even their record at 2-2. The Varsity Blues were also looking for their second win in a row, coming off a 52-43 victory against Trent.
The Lions were also looking to maintain their position among those teams fighting for one of the final two playoff spots in the OUA. Entering play Saturday, York was one of five teams at 1-2, with one of the others being the Varsity Blues. That meant that, if the teams tie at the end of the season, this game may determine which of these two sides will be heading for the postseason in what is a conference full of parity.
The Lions came out buzzing, scoring the game's first five tries, Frist, Alanna Mrkobrada found her way over the line to get York on the board and put them up 5-0. Then, Lucy Baronka, fresh off a York athlete of the week nomination after scoring two tries last week, did so again to make it 12-0 after the convert from Rachel James, to make it 12-0.
Then, Mistura Are, York's leader in tries with four, got into the act, and the Lions led19-0 under 15 minutes in. They eventually got out to a 31-0 lead after a pair of scores from Jahlesha Roye.
Toronto fought back with three consecutive tries to close the half, and trailed 36-15 at the break. The Blues started the second half with another try to trim the lead to 36-22, but York responded with two of their own courtesy of Kristina Jacob and the aforementioned Roye, to make it 48-22 Lions and put the game out of reach. The red and white added two more tries, these from Are and Mrkobrada, and ended up taking the victory in enemy territory by a final of 60-27.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Lions return home to host the Trent Excalibur next Saturday, September 27th, at 7:00 pm, in another crucial game for playoff positioning. Admission is free.
