Men's Soccer | 9/3/2026 12:40:00 PM
The York University Lions men's soccer team will try and keep their strong start to their U SPORTS championship defence going this weekend when they host the McMaster Marauders, who will be looking to send a message across the OUA and avenge their playoff loss against York from last season, on Thursday night, before travelling to Waterloo to take on the Warriors on Sunday.
Before the game against McMaster, the Lions will also be celebrating their 2025 national championship, their sixth in program history and first since 2015. Several members of the team will be in attendance, including now-former Lions Jaedyn Bell-Saunders, Anthony Aromatario, Nick Spittle, Daniel Casa and more. The team will receive its championship rings as part of the pregame banner ceremony. This will also be the Lions annual Orientation Game for students from all colleges to attend and enjoy the exciting activities, activations and contests planned to make the experience a memorable one.
York's start to the season has had no shortage of both drama and scoring so far. The Lions started the season off in Windsor where Anthony Morano opened the scoring for York in the 11th minute and then answered back in first half stoppage time just after Windsor had tied it in the 42nd minute. In the second half, Christian Zeppieri would score a penalty kick and assist on Marco Sciortino's goal to round out York's 4-1 victory.
Next, the Lions hosted the Western Mustangs in their home opener at York Lions Stadium. Western came out determined in that one, jumping out to an early 2-0 lead with goals in the 11th and 18th minutes. Morano would answer with a goal in the 32nd minute (his third of the season) to make it 2-1 at the half. Western immediately came out firing again in the second half, scoring in the first five minutes to restore their two-goal lead. York would not give in, however, as Ryan Robinson would score goals in the 55th and 69th minutes to tie the game up at 3-3. Michael Campoli would go on to complete the comeback for the Lions with a beautiful back-heel goal – one of the OUA plays of the week – in the 73rd minute to put the Lions ahead 4-3, a lead they would hold on to and move to 2-0 on the season.
McMaster comes into this match after a strong first showing against Algoma. The Marauders would score once in the first half and twice more in the second as they would go on to beat the Thunderbirds 3-0 while also outshooting them 15-4 in what was a very solid outing for the Marauders. McMaster also has some extra motivation to play with as this will be the first time they have played the Lions since the 2025 OUA quarterfinals, which saw York emerge victorious with a 3-2 win on their way to an OUA silver medal and, eventually, the national title. After their match against the Lions, the Marauders will host the Western Mustangs at home in Hamilton to finish out their weekend.
Waterloo comes into this weekend looking to improve on their 1-1 record. The Warriors opened the season on the road at Western, taking a very strong Mustangs team into the halftime break tied 0-0. Western would finally squeeze through in the 76th minute with that goal being the difference in a 1-0 win. The Warriors would then head home to face the visiting Brock Badgers, who were playing their first game of the season. It would be another low scoring affair for the Warriors, as they went into halftime once again in a scoreless draw However, this time they were the beneficiaries of a second-half strike courtesy of Milan Sangam, who scored in the 80th minute for the game's only goal in a 1-0 victory over the Badgers to move to 1-1 on the season. The Warriors will head open the weekend down in Windsor to face the now 0-2 Lancers on Friday before returning home to host York on Sunday.
The game against McMaster is scheduled to kick-off at 8:15 p.m. on Thursday night at York Lions Stadium As for the match against Waterloo, that game will kick-off on Sunday September 6th at 3:15 PM EST. Tickets for Thursday's match are available at yorkulions.ca/tickets, with the match also available OUA TV.
