Losing streak continues

Lewis Chaitov
Staff writer
If there was anything noticeably missing in York’s match against Guelph, it was probably the Lions themselves.
The Lions lost in a 5-0 shutout to the third-seeded Guelph Gryphons Jan. 9, and they likely could have got the same results if they didn’t play at all.

The team’s discipline felt flimsy throughout the match, as avoidable penalties cost the women any early advantage they could have had over their opponents from the beginning of the game. In total, the team stacked up an astounding 10 penalties, which left the Lions shorthanded for 20 minutes of the game and gave the Gryphons opportunities to score several goals. This game was certainly nothing to be proud of: York earned the third highest total penalty minutes in the Ontario University Athletics this season.
The penalties were not what cost them the match, though; it was the fact that during the Lion’s powerplays, they couldn’t put the puck past the Gryphon’s goaltender, Danielle Skoufranis. What’s lacking for the team is not the toughness that every team needs, but the ability to make better choices and execute better plays on the ice. This is a problem that has been following the team for some time now, as penalty troubles have caused them to lose even the closest games.
There’s no doubt the team has potential. Last year, the Lions finished third in the standings with the help of current captain Courtney Unruh and goalie Sydney McMurter. The audience could also see the potential in the York forwards who skated up the wing and swung for the goal, missing by only a few inches.
At the end of the day, however, it’s not how much potential a team has, but how many goals have been scored in the 60 minutes of play. In this case, it was the Guelph Gryphons
who didn’t let up the whole game or give away opportunities to the Lions.