Uzodinma Ukagwu | Sports Editor
Featured Image: Omar Marzouk and Cristian Cavallini celeberate one of three Lions’ goals. | Courtesy of YorkU Lions
The Lions men’s and women’s soccer teams played their quarterfinal playoffs on Sunday, and, due to their regular-season record, were rewarded with home-field advantage.
The men extended their season, with a 3-0 win against the Waterloo Warriors to advance to the semi-finals, while the women fell to the the Western Mustangs in a tightly-contested, 3-2 loss.
In the women’s game, the ‘Stangs scored first, courtesy of Katrina Giantsopoulo in the 3rd minute to take an early lead. Then, 26 minutes later, Giantsopoulo found the back of the net for the second time, giving Western some insurance.
The Lions, however, responded just five minutes later courtesy of Kiyani Johnson, assisted by Jessica Lush, to halve the deficit to a single goal.
The Lions were unable to tie the game before halftime, going into the break down 2-1, despite outshooting the Mustangs in the opening 45 minutes.
The Lions roared out of the gate in the second, as Johnson found the back of the net for the second time in the game, knotting things up at two goals a piece.
The second half resembled the first, as the Lions were the better team, constantly putting pressure on the ‘Stangs goal and attempting seven shots, while only conceding a single shot in the back third. Unfortunately for York, it was one shot too many, as the ‘Stangs managed to beat York keeper, Tamara Orlando in the 59th minute, recapturing their one-goal lead.
Stephanie Lamanna came close to finding the equalizer for the Lions in the dying minutes of the game but the Western keeper was able to get a hand on it, and swat it away, and the game finished in a 3-2 loss for the Lions.
The men hoped to avenge their female counterparts, as they played next, against the Waterloo Warriors.
The Lions were completely dominant from the opening kick, peppering the Warriors keeper with 10 shots in the first half. The Warriors, in contrast, failed to register a single shot during the first 45 minutes.
Despite their offensive onslaught, York only managed a single goal in the first half, which came in the 25th minute courtesy of forward Omar Marzouk, assisted by Dylan Carreiro.
The performance gulf remained wide between the two teams in the second half, as the Warriors, seeded sixth for these playoffs, again failed to challenge the number-one seed Lions back row. York recorded seven shots in the second half, compared to only one by Waterloo.
The Lions put victory beyond doubt early in the second half, when Marzouk extended his goal tally for the match and the Lions’ lead in the 52nd minute, assisted again by Carreiro.
Then, less than a minute later, Marzouk turned provider, finding Cristian Cavallini in the front third. Cavallini beat the Warriors keeper for the third time in the match, and the Lions took a commanding 3-0 that was insurmountable for Waterloo (the Marzouk-Cavallini connection have scored a combined 25 goals for the Lions this season.).The Lions will be hoping to continue their red-hot play in the OUA semi-final taking place next weekend—They will be facing off against the Ryerson Rams, in Ottawa, with the time still TBD.
