Matt Dionne | Sports and Health Editor
Featured photo: The men’s soccer team rallies to beat rival McMaster, while the women get two more wins and have yet to trail this season. | Courtesy of York Lions
The Lions men’s and women’s soccer team advanced to 5-0 on the season this week, beating McMaster and Waterloo by a combined score of 13-3.
The Lions played the McMaster Marauders on Wednesday in Hamilton, then returned home to face the Waterloo Warriors on Thursday.
In Wednesday’s game against the Marauders, Christina Morelli opened the scoring in the sixth minute with her fifth goal of the season, giving York a 1-0 lead into halftime.
The Lions opened the scoring again in the second half with Nour Ghoneim’s eighth goal of the season, assisted by Charlene D’Mello.
The game wasn’t nearly as close as the 2-1 final score would suggest, as McMaster didn’t score until injury time of the second half. The goal came courtesy of Maila Carboni, and was assisted by Alexandra Riganelli.
Carboni’s goal is the first that York women have allowed all season.
In Thursday’s game against Waterloo, the ladies once again opened the scoring in the third minute, courtesy of Morelli — her sixth goal of the season — and assisted by Ashley Nater.
York would add two more goals in the half, both courtesy of Ghoneim. They came in the 35th and 39th minutes and were assisted by Kiyani Johnson and Marilyn Grammenopoulos, respectively.
They were Ghoneim’s ninth and 10th goal of the season, sending York into halftime with a 3-0 lead.
In the second half Ghoneim scored again – her 11th goal of the season – and completed her hat trick in the 75th minute, assisted by Sia Papadopoulos.
The men’s soccer team added a pair of wins to their season record this week, beating McMaster and Waterloo on Wednesday and Thursday.
The Lions men’s team is now 5-0 on the season and sits in first place in the Ontario University Athletics West Division.
McMaster gave the Lions a scare on Wednesday, scoring the first goal of the game in the ninth minute, courtesy of Dusan Kovacevic and assisted by Marco Gennaccaro.
This marks the first time all season the Lions have trailed in a game.
McMaster would add to their lead in the 32nd minute with a goal by Yunus Mollayev, assisted again by Gennaccaro.
The Lions would cut the deficit in half in the 40th minute with an unassisted goal from Dena Iezady.
That would be it for the first half, as the Lions would go into the break trailing for the first time all year.
York opened the second half with a flurry of goals, all within the first five minutes and all unassisted. First, Cristian Cavallini scored his third goal of the season. Then, Milan Beader and Dena Iezady scored their second and third goals of the season, respectively.
The Lions went on to win and keep their streak alive.
The first half of Thursday’s game against Waterloo was uneventful, as neither team was able to get on the scoreboard.
However, in the 71st minute Cavallini opened the scoring for York, assisted by De Vante Walker, with his fourth goal of the season.
Then Milan Beader netted his third goal of the season, assisted by Cavallini, in the 85th minute.
Finally, Steve Kloutsouniotis scored his second goal of the season, assisted by Walker, in the 90th minute.
Both the men’s and women’s teams will be back in action on Saturday when they take on McMaster at York Stadium, starting at 1 p.m.
