With the regular season set to begin in just over a week, the York Lions women’s volleyball team concludes exhibition play this weekend when the team hosts the York Invitational at the Tait McKenzie Centre. Teams participating in this year’s event include: Queen’s, Waterloo, Toronto and Anahuac University from Mexico City. Anahuac and Waterloo open the tournament Friday morning at 11am. York’s first match is at 1pm on Friday against Queen’s. The tournament concludes Sunday with the third-place match taking place at 11am followed by the championship game at 1pm.
The men’s volleyball team played a mini-tournament this past weekend at Hamilton’s Mohawk College. In their first match, the Lions topped the Laurier Golden Hawks 3-1. In their second game, the team defeated Mohawk 3-0. This weekend, York travels to Kingston for the Queen’s Invitational.
The York Lions football team returns to York Stadium this Saturday for the final home game of the 2006 regular season. The squad plays host to the Queen’s Golden Gaels at 2pm. Last week, York’s post-season hopes took a hit when the team fell 41-28 to the Windsor Lancers. Quarterback Bart Zemanek passed for three touchdowns and scored one on the ground in the losing cause. York sits two points out of the final playoff spot in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) league with two games remaining.
York’s undefeated field hockey team resumes league play with three games on tap this week. Up first for the Lions are the 6-0-1 Toronto Varsity Blues on Thursday. This marks the first meeting of the year between the teams. The winner will take over the outright lead in the OUA. On the weekend, York faces Guelph and Waterloo. The Lions defeated both teams earlier this year.
The men’s soccer team evened its season record at 5-5-0 last week with a 2-1 win over the Waterloo Warriors. York’s male Athlete of the Week Douglas Sereti (right) assisted on the Lions first goal before scoring the game-winner later in the second half. York travels to Guelph on Saturday for its final road game of the regular season before returning home to close out the season with three games at York Stadium. Sunday marks the beginning of that three-game home stand, when the Laurier Golden Hawks pay a visit. Kick-off is scheduled for 1pm.
The women’s soccer team continues to hold off opponents as the team earned its fourth-straight shutout, 0-0, against the Warriors last week. The team has only surrendered one goal against in its last six games. The Lions play a pair of games this weekend. Up first for York will be the Guelph Gryphons on Saturday. In their first meeting of the season, York won 2-0. On Sunday, the squad returns home to play the Laurier Golden Hawks at 3pm at York Stadium.
The women’s hockey team continued its solid pre-season play with a pair of victories last week. Five different scorers helped the Lions pace the Whitby Jr. Wolves, 5-4, on Friday. The next day, first-year forward and this week’s female Athlete of the Week Justine Jackson (left), scored twice including the game-winner in a 4-2 win over the UOIT Ridgebacks. This week, the Lions open regular season play when they entertain the Windsor Lancers at 2pm on Saturday at the Canlan Ice Sports Arena at York.
This past weekend, the men’s hockey team paid a visit to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. for an exhibition contest against the RPI Engineers. In its final pre-season tune-up, York fell 5-1 to the host team. First-year forward Kent Merriam scored the team’s lone marker. The Lions open the regular season this week with a pair of road games. Friday, the team travels to Kingston to play Royal Military College. Saturday, the squad battles Queen’s.
Women’s rugby finishes league play this week with a pair of games here at York. On Wednesday, the Lions play host to the Toronto Varsity Blues, a team they defeated, 17-7, in the first game of the year. Sunday, York will look for revenge against the OUA front-running McMaster Marauders, the only team the Lions have lost to this year. Game time for Wednesday’s match-up is 7pm, while Sunday’s is set for 1pm. Both games will be held at the York rugby pitch.
The badminton and cross-country teams also resume league action this week. The Lions badminton team battles cross-town rival Toronto, while the cross-country team travels to Kingston for the Queen’s Open. The men’s and women’s water polo teams open league play on Thursday when they take on the visiting Toronto Varsity Blues.
On the exhibition front, men’s and women’s basketball continue pre-season play this week. The men’s team is at UPEI for a tournament, while the women also travel east to play against UCCB and Dalhousie. The Lions tennis teams compete in a non-conference tournament at Niagara University.