Uzodinma Ukagwu | Sports Editor
Featured Image: The Lions won all three games on the road last weekend. | Courtesy of YorkU Lions
The Lions’ field hockey team travelled to London and Guelph on Saturday and Sunday respectively, playing and winning three games, to continue their near perfect OUA Championship defence.
The Lions’ first game of the weekend was a 4-0 win over the Queen’s Gaels on Saturday afternoon.
The 4-0 win over the Gaels featured four different goal scorers. OUA leading-scorer, Jaslan Stirling, drew first blood in the 15th minute, her first of six goals over the weekend. Then, Claire Church scored her first goal of the season in the last minute of the first half to give the Lions a 2-0 lead.
The Lions scored two more goals in the second half of that game to complete a convincing 4-0 victory over the Gaels, courtesy of Sidney McFaul in the 43rd minute, and Natalie Winter in the 59th minute.
The Lions then travelled to Guelph where they played and won two more games against the Waterloo Warriors and the Western Mustangs, to complete a perfect weekend.
The Lions’ first Sunday game against the Warriors kicked off at 10:45 a.m., and resulted in a 4-2 win.
The game was a hard-fought victory for the Lions, as Stirling recorded a hat-trick in the win, after the game had been tied at 2-2 for much of the second half.
The Lions scored two quick goals against the Warriors courtesy of Stirling as well as Sidney McFaul, in the 3rd and 7th minute respectively, to take an early 2-0 lead. However, the Warriors’ Jennifer Mead scored two goals in the 10th and 32nd minutes to tie the game at 2-2.
The Lions, however, were not to be outdone and persisted in the second half, when Stirling broke the tie with her second goal of the match in the 59th minute, then, just two minutes later, she added some insurance to complete the hat trick, en route to the 4-2 victory.
The Lions kicked-off their last game of the weekend at 2:15 p.m. on Sunday, against the Western Mustangs, cruising to a 6-1 victory.
Stirling continued her scintillating form by opening the scoring in the 6th minute, and Chloe Walton added two more goals in the 21st and 26th minutes to give the Lions a 3-0 lead by the end of the first half.
Walton’s two goals vaulted her to second in the OUA goal-scoring standings (behind Stirling), as she now has five goals on the season.
The Lions conceded a goal in the 42nd minute, as the Stangs attempted to mount a comeback. However, their hopes were quickly devoured by the Lions, who scored three more goals courtesy of Amber Sandhu, Sarah Powell, and Jaslan Stirling, in the 55th, 62nd, and 69th minutes respectively, to complete 6-1 victory.
The Lions are back in action this weekend, with another three-game road trip. On Saturday, they will take on U of T at 10:45 a.m., and Guelph later that same day at 4 p.m.
The Lions will conclude the road trip against Queen’s on Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
