Rain poured down on players and fans at the new York Stadium last Thursday as the Lions’ men’s soccer team finished their game against the Laurier Golden Hawks, dominating them by a score of 5-0. Earlier in the evening the Lions women’s soccer team had also defeated the Golden Hawks by a score of 3-2.
The lady Lions extended their record to 10-0-1, making them the only team in the Ontario University Athletics to remain undefeated this season. They extended that record to 11 victories on Saturday by defeating the Waterloo Warriors by a score of 4-0. There was far more at stake in Thursday’s game, dubbed the “battle of nationally-ranked teams” since the Lions and Golden Hawks are ranked third and fourth in Canada, respectively. At the end of September, the Lions’ women’s team had not defeated the Golden Hawks in nearly six years. In just the second week of October they managed to defeat them twice.
The men’s game that followed was dominated offensively by the Lions in the first half, who scored two goals in the first twenty minutes of the game and added another one later on to finish the half with a 3-0 lead. It started raining heavily in the second half, forcing both the Lions and the Golden Hawks to focus more on defense. However, Lions’ striker Joey Cicchillo scored his second goal of the game, and midfielder Benjamin Futoriansky added one more to finish the game with a 5-0 victory for the Lions. Thursday’s game brought the Lions’ season record to 8-1-2, to which they added another win on Saturday with a 2-1 victory over the Warriors.
Thursday’s games stood out not only because they were outstanding wins for both of the Lions’ soccer teams, but also because they were played at the new state of the art York Stadium (formerly known as the CIBC Pan Am and Parapan Am Stadium). “I think the boys were very motivated by playing in the new stadium,” says Lions’ head coach Carmine Isacco. He praised the stadium’s locker room facilities as well and especially the playing field, saying, “The surface was fantastic.”
“The new stadium will not be used for any remaining games this year,” says Jennifer Myers, the executive director of York’s Athletics and Recreation department. She explains that there is work to be done on the new stadium that has been scheduled since before the 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games, and it will not allow the stadium to be used again this year. That may involve resizing the field to make it more suited to sports such as soccer, as Isacco mentions that the field is very narrow to play a soccer game on.
The Canadian Interuniversity Sport men’s soccer championships, which are coming up in November and will be hosted this year by York, are therefore unlikely to be played at the new York Stadium. The stadium is grass, Myers explains, that it “does not lend itself to a stable, predictable surface in mid-November.” The championships will instead be held at the old York Stadium, which has an artificial surface.
When the new York Stadium does open, however, it will serve as the venue for “a broad range of activities,” says Myers. The Lions administration intends to use the stadium to host the Lions’ home games for football and soccer in the future, two of the most popular sports at York. “It will also be used for track and field and various intramural activities,” Myers adds. She also mentions that the stadium will be officially renamed the York Lions Stadium as soon as York’s administration approves it, and the old York Stadium will be renamed the Alumni Stadium.
In the meantime, the Lions’ soccer teams continue to prepare for the OUA playoffs, which are only a few weeks away, and beyond that to the CIS championships, where the men’s team will defend their national title on home soil.
Hassam Munir, Sports and Health Editor
