The York University Lions men's soccer team hosted the Guelph Gryphons on Monday night at York Lions Stadium in a key OUA West matchup, with the teams separated by two points in the standings entering play.
This game was a rematch of the 2024 OUA quarter-final, which was scorless through 120 minutes before the Lions win in penalty kicks. Some 11 months less a day later. York came in 3-1-2 and third in the division, while Guelph sat just behind at 2-1-3 and in ffith after a tough loss to McMaster last week.
The Lions were forced to play without standout Christian Zeppieri, who received a straight red card in their last outing against Waterloo. Meanwhile, Guelph came in looking to vault past both McMaster and York and into third with a win.
The first half was a defensive battle, with the Lions earning a few corners but unable to generate a true scoring chance. It remained scoreless at halftime, with both teams searching for a breakthrough.
That moment came in the 60th minute, when York's Yigal Bruk opened the scoring with his first goal of the season, finishing off a setup from last week's York male and OUA athlete of the week Marco Sciortino to give the home side a 1–0 lead. Just four minutes later, the Lions doubled their advantage as Anthony Morano struck for his fourth of the campaign, assisted by Bruk. The quick-fire double-dip gave York a commanding 2–0 advantage.
From there, York tightened up defensively while Guelph pushed forward in search of a response. Goalkeeper Michael Williams anchored the backline with a composed performance, preventing rebounds and keeping the clean sheet intact.
Guelph, however, refused to go quietly. After spending much of the second half pressing forward, Guelph's Julian Boscariol finally broke through in stoppage time, sneaking a goal past Williams in the dying seconds to cut the lead to 2–1. Despite the late drama, York held firm and walked away with all three points and a 2-1 win.
"We started off a little bit rough, but throughout the game we kind of found our momentum, especially in the second half," said Bruk after his two-point performance. "I think we put out a solid performance after last game's draw. It's good to get the win — unfortunate to (give up) the goal in the last seconds — but looking forward to the next game."
Head coach Carmine Isacco added: "We were resilient. A lot of players that haven't played many minutes did a great job in not-so-comfortable situations. It was great that they were comfortable being uncomfortable."
LOOKING AHEAD:
After this win, York hits the road to face the Western Mustangs on Friday, September 26 at 8:15 p.m. The match will be streamed live on OUA.tv.
