The York Lions women’s volleyball team continued its perfect season this past weekend with another two victories, this time over the University of Toronto Varsity Blues and Ryerson Rams, to improve its record to 13-0. The volleyball women sit atop the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East Division standings and are one of only two undefeated teams in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) league.
In last weekend’s 3-1 victories over both Toronto and Ryerson, the volleyball team was led on offence by fifth-year star Candice Paulsen, who recorded 15 points in each contest. She is now fourth in the OUA in scoring, just behind rookie teammates Thinesa Sriskandarajah, who is second, and Kristina Vlcek, who is third.
The women’s hockey squad dominated the Queen’s Gaels in both of their weekend games, winning 6-1 on Friday night and 4-1 on Saturday, to jump into fourth place in the OUA standings. Goaltenders Sydney McMurter and Megan Slumskie were both stellar in net while Mandy Cole and Michelle Daniels each recorded three points over the two contests. With seven games left to play, the women are in a fight with three other teams for the last three playoff spots and the race promises to be exciting through the end of the season.
The men’s hockey team faced a tough weekend with games against the No. 2-ranked Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) Patriotes and the Ottawa Gee-Gees, but the men played some of their best hockey en route to a 3-2 shootout loss to the Patriotes and a 4-2 win over the Gee-Gees. UQTR has lost only twice all season, and so to steal a point from it has to be considered a success for the men. Rookie Daniel Torres had two goals and an assist over the two days and goalkeeper Carlo Di Rienzo backstopped the Lions in both contests.
The Lions track & field team travelled to Windsor for the 2009 Can Am Track Classic and returned home with 13 medals, including four golds. Sprinter Tyrone Halstead led the Lions to a sweep in the men’s 60-metre race as he claimed gold and teammates Randolph Fajardo and Dontae Richards-Kwok won silver and bronze, respectively. The three men then teamed up with Mat Stiver-Balla to capture the gold medal in the men’s 4 x 200-metre relay. Also winning gold for the Lions were Kristin Obrochta in the weight throw and Heather Hamilton in the pole vault.
In other action, the men’s and women’s basketball teams both lost to the Ottawa Gee-Gees and Carleton Ravens and the men’s volleyball team fell to the Toronto Varsity Blues and Ryerson Rams. The women’s basketball team held on against Ottawa, forcing triple overtime before the game was decided, while the men were simply overmatched by the two Ottawa teams that are ranked No. 1 (Carleton) and No. 2 (Ottawa) in the CIS.
Submitted to YFile by Alyson Grant, sport & recreation officer