The York University Lions men's soccer team celebrated their 2025 U SPORTS championship on Thursday night at York Lions Stadium in their annual Orientation Game, as they hosted the McMaster Marauders. The Lions showed off their championship banner in a pregame ceremony banner and were presented with their sleek championship rings.
Coming off a 4-3 come-from-behind win against the Western Mustangs, the Lions started the game aggressively, aiming to continue their winning ways. In the first nine minutes, the Lions directed three shots at goal, all on target, with the latter being a goal from Ryan Robinson, his third of the season in just the 10th minute. Anthony Morano doubled for the Lions after going 1-on-1 with Marauders goalkeeper Ethan Cagalj for his fourth of the year to re-claim the team lead in goals.
In the 26th minute, York still had the ball deep into McMaster's half when Lions midfielder Christian Zeppieri went down after contact with Marauders Niko Eskit, resulting in a penalty. Zeppieri, the OUA's West's three-time defending MVP, stepped up to the spot and the and banged it home to make it 3-0.
Moments later, the Marauders Romain Sordet looked to put McMaster on the board, but his shot was directed wide of the target by Lions keeper Michael Williams giving the Marauders a corner. The Lions took their 3-0 advantage into the break.
The Lions picked up right where they left off offensively, as Robinson and Yigal Bruk each fired shots towards Cagalj within the first three minutes, followed by another from Morano that missed the target. The Marauders answer back with a shot on target by.
Less than a minute after a couple near misses from McMaster's Nickolas Fontecha, and Thomas Kapustynsk, Bruk stripped the ball from a Marauders attacker, slipped in alone on Cagalj and was taken down in the area, awarding York its second penalty of the night. Zeppieri promptly stepped back up to take the penalty and, as he did in the first half, nailed it into the right side of the net for his second of the night to make it 4-0 Lions.
The Marauders had little left in the tank late, as the Lions earned a convincing 4-0 victory, leading nearly from wire to wire, to improve to 3-0 on the young campaign.
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Lions will head to Waterloo looking to extend their winning streak against the Warriors on Sunday, September 6, at 3:15 pm.
