The York Lions women’s soccer team finished off their regular season on Sunday with a spectacular 11-0 victory over the Algoma University Thunderbirds at York Stadium. The team has achieved a 15-0-1 record this season, leading the Ontario University Athletics West Division for the first time since 2009. The game was also the final one for the nine graduating Lions players who were honoured before it began.
The Lions dominated possession of the ball throughout the game and put on a clinic offensively. They scored their first goal just five minutes into the game and followed it up with four more by halftime. The momentum then carried into the second half, in which the Lions found the back of the Thunderbirds’ net six more times. One of these was the first goal of the season for rookie Farkhunda Muhtaj, who is considered a rising threat in centre field.”
The Lions’ fifth-year forward Colleen Beesley and fourth-year striker Nour Ghoneim were the stars of the game. Beesley scored five goals in total, including the final four of the game. She went on a scoring spree in the second half, scoring three goals less than a minute apart from each other and doubling her season total of goals scored.
Ghoneim scored a hat-trick and finished the game as the OUA leader in scoring, with 18 goals in 16 games. Ghoneim, who was the OUA and Canadian Interuniversity Sport rookie of the year in 2012 and the OUA West MVP in 2014, continues to perform outstandingly in her career with the Lions.
The nine graduating players honoured included Sarah Wong, described as one of the most dominant midfielders in Canada, and Shannon Wood, who has played in every Lions game for the past five seasons, has been named the OUA West all-star for the past three years, and has excelled in her studies at York.
With a successful regular season now behind them, the Lions look forward to taking their domination on the soccer field to the OUA playoffs which begin in November.
Hassam Munir, Sports and Health Editor
