The York University Lions women’s basketball team claimed its first win of the season – and the first under new head coach Erin McAleenan – with a 70-51 victory over the University of Waterloo Warriors at the Physical Activities Complex in Waterloo, Ont., on Friday (Nov. 27) evening.
The Lions dominated the first quarter with a 13-point lead, thanks to jump shots made by five different Lions. However, Nina Guzina ended up tallying the most points of the quarter, executing off of two three-point shots in the span of a minute.
In the second quarter, the Lions continued to add more points to the board, maintaining their lead. Haley Bowie and Sandra Nagowska each made a jump shot and free throw for the team to finish the half with a 33-21 score. More details on the York Lions website.
The win was one of two on the weekend for the Lions, who went back to Waterloo on Saturday and defeated the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks by a score of 77-65.
Taylor McAlpine had an incredible performance off of the bench on Saturday that fueled the Lions offence to the upset over the Golden Hawks. McAlpine finished the game with a perfect field goal percentage (8-8) to lead all Lions in scoring with 20 points to go with 12 rebounds. More details.
Wrestling Lions win three medals at York Open
The York University Lions wrestling team hosted its annual York Open meet on Saturday (Nov. 28) and won three medals in their home gym at the Tait McKenzie Centre.
Both teams finished in third place in their respective team standings.
The highlight of the day came in the women’s 51kg division, where sophomore Alexandria Town won the gold medal. After a strong round-robin to reach the championship match in her weight class, Town defeated Jade Papke from the Guelph Gryphons 14-4 in the final to finish atop the podium. Papke was the 2011 Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) gold medallist in the division and also won the national silver medal in 2013. More details.
Track and field Lions come up big at season opening meet
The York University Lions track and field team combined to win 27 medals at their season-opening Xmas Open meet at the Toronto Track & Field Centre on Saturday.
The women’s team won 14 medals, including six golds, while the men had 13 total medals and two golds.
Sheereen Harris accounted for three gold medals, claiming individual titles in the 60m and 200m and also running the second leg of the winning 4x200m relay team. Joining her on the relay squad were Mikeisha Bobb, Shania Payne and Nicolette Witherspoon.
On the men’s side, the gold medals were won by Dereck Djan in the 200m and Suraj Sharma in the 3000m. More details.
Women’s volleyball Lions erase two-set deficit to defeat Lakers in five
The York University Lions women’s volleyball team ended the fall portion of their schedule with a five-set comeback victory over the Nipissing University Lakers at the Tait McKenzie Centre on Sunday afternoon.
The Lions consistently held a lead for the majority of the first set, out-tallying the Lakers in kills (12-11) and attacks (53-48) but critical points from Nipissing’s Christina Caruso and Tracy Hammerton allowed Nipissing to take the set 25-22. More details.
Men’s hockey Lions get back into win column with victory over Stingers
With a 4-3 victory over the Concordia University Stingers on Saturday afternoon at the Ed Meagher Arena in Montreal, the No. 8 nationally ranked York University Lions men’s hockey team recorded its ninth win of the regular season.
With the victory, the Lions improved to 9-3-3 on the year and have already equaled their win total from all of last season, with 12 games still remaining on the schedule.
In the opening minutes of the contests, both teams were quick to grab a goal. York’s Colton Vannucci was first to open the scoring at 2:12 off of assists from Greg Milner and Mitch VanTeeling. More details.
As part of their weekend trip to Quebec, the Lions also suffered a 5-2 loss to the No. 7 Universite du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres Patriotes.
Mark Cross opened the scoring at the 8:56 mark of the first period with assists going Reid Jackman and Corey Scott. The Lions lead would be short lived, however, as the Patriotes came marching back and tied the game up at ones on a goal coming from Guillaume Asselin. More details.
Men’s basketball Lions overcome big deficit to defeat Golden Hawks
The York University Lions men’s basketball team came from behind and took down the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks by a score of 83-79 on Saturday night in Waterloo, Ont.
The Lions began the game slowly, getting outscored 25-11 in the first quarter. In the second quarter the relentless Lions pounced back with 23 points but still trailed 41-34 going into the half.
They continued to chip away at the deficit throughout the second half and finally took their first lead of the game with 2:25 left. After that point the Golden Hawks twice tied the contest but could not regain the lead, and the Lions held on for the four-point win. More details.
The win came one day after a narrow 86-83 loss to the University of Waterloo Warriors on Friday night. It was a close first quarter that ended 21-21, but the Lions came out big in the second and third quarters to give themselves a comfortable seven-point lead to head into the final frame.
However, the Warriors’ Mike Pereira came up big for his team and leveled the score midway through the quarter with nine points. More details.
Women’s hockey Lions edge Ridgebacks in 10th round of shootout
The York University Lions women’s hockey team won its second consecutive home game in a shootout, this time needing 10 rounds to defeat the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) Ridgebacks 2-1 on Friday night at Canlan Ice Sports.
Defender Jenna Gray was the final Lion to partake in the shootout and she did not disappoint, corralling the puck at centre ice and, with a head of speed through the neutral zone, went backhand-forehand and waited out UOIT goaltender Tori Campbell until there was gaping hole near the post before proceeding to slide the puck into the open cage. More details.
Two nights later, the Lions were defeated by a score of 5-1 by the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks in Waterloo, Ont. The win snapped a three-game winning streak by the Lions and dropped them to 2-3-6-1 on the year, while the Golden Hawks improved to 6-0-4-1. More details.
Men’s volleyball Lions fall in five sets to Lakers
The York University Lions men’s volleyball team closed off its fall season with a 3-2 loss against the Nipissing University Lakers at the Tait McKenzie Centre on Sunday evening.
The Lions dominated the first set as the Lakers struggled to contain the athletic and technical ability of Arthur Szwarc, who hit six of the Lions’ 11 kills. Alexander Duncan-Thibault and Yostin Frias also played a solid set and helped the Lions to a 25-15 win. More details.
On Friday night, the Lions were blanked by the University of Guelph Gryphons 3-0 in their final road game of 2015. The Gryphons started the match off strong with a 25-16 win in the first set. The game point was given to Guelph thanks to the efforts from Luke Woud and Conan Mickey, who were able the get above the net and block Tyler Covach’s spike.
The second set was a more competitive contest with the Lions forcing the Gryphons to take the set with a 32-30 score. More details.