Alexander Colle | Sports Editor
Featured Image: The Lions men’s squad moved into first place in their OUA division with a win on Saturday against Waterloo. | Anton Mak
The Lions men’s team avoided a second-half collapse on Saturday afternoon in Toronto against the Waterloo Warriors, en route to their OUA-best seventh-straight win.
Meanwhile, the women tied the Warriors nil-nil, in a match that featured excellent defence and clutch goaltending from Lions goalkeeper Taylor Grant.
Midfielder Steve Kloutsouniotis drew first blood for the Lions in the sixth minute of play, with his fifth goal of the season.
Seventeen minutes later, York added some insurance when midfielder Eddie Lay found the back of the net for his second goal of the season in the 24th minute, before adding his third in the 31st minutes.
York’s offensive onslaught came to an end just seconds before the half, when midfielder Dylan Carreiro netted his fifth of the season—giving the Lions a 4-0 lead going into the break.
As indicated by the score, the first half was completely owned by the Lions, who produced 10 shots, while the lowly Warriors could only muster up two.
In the second half, Waterloo began applying some offensive pressure of their own, which was not present during the first 45 minutes of the game.
Warriors defenceman Florian Bruckeder snuck one by the York keeper in the 68th minute, ending the York keeper’s clean sheet.
Trailing 4-1 with 10 minutes to go, Waterloo refused to go down quietly, as they were able to draw within a single goal after netting their second and third goals of the match in the 81st and 83rd minutes by midfielder Nicholas Ribeiro and Bruckeder, respectively.
Despite strong offensive pressure in the dying minutes of the game by the Warriors—who threw everything at the Lions in an effort to tie the game—York managed to halt the comeback attempt, as they went on to win by a score of 4-3.
This marks the first win of the season for goalkeeper Quillian Roberts, who had a single save in the narrow victory.
This win brings the men to 8-2-0 on the season, and moves them into first place in their division and tied for second in the OUA.
Meanwhile, the women came into their matchup looking to defeat the Warrior team that they had tied with one week prior in Waterloo.
The first 25 minutes of the match saw much of the game dominated by the Warriors offense, who managed seven shots and two corner kicks towards York’s Grant.
In response, the Lions pounced on Waterloo with four shots and a corner in the latter part of the first half. However, niether team was able to put the ball in the net, as the score remained nil-nil at the break.
The second half saw similar results, as both teams traded shots in an attempt to break the stalemate. Waterloo came close in the final minute of play, off of a corner by Warrior Hannah Rempel. However, their efforts were unsuccessful, as the game ended in a scoreless draw.
Grant recorded her first clean sheet of the season by saving five shots in the effort.
Both Lions squads look to improve their record on October 6, when they travel to Hamilton to take on the McMaster Marauders.
Kick-off is at 6:00 p.m. for the women, and 8:00 p.m. for the men.
