SOCCER TEAMS HIT THE PITCH

The York University Lions men’s and women’s soccer teams have begun preparations for the upcoming season and will get their first taste of game action this weekend with multiple pre-season contests on the schedule.

The Lions are perennial contenders in Ontario University Athletics (OUA) and will look make the playoffs again in 2010. The women’s team enters the new season as the defending champions, having won their third title in five seasons last November.

The women’s team will travel to Montreal to take on the McGill Martlets on Sunday morning (Aug. 22) at 10am. They will return home next week and have a pre-season game against Mount Vernon Nazarene University on Saturday (Aug. 28) at 11am. The Cougars play in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) in Mount Vernon, Ohio and last year posted a record of 11-6-2.

Meanwhile, the men’s team will stay at home for a pair of exhibition games against teams from Quebec. Their first contest is on Friday (Aug. 20) against the Montreal Carabins, and the following Friday the UQAM Citadins will be in town to face off against the Lions. Both games will begin at 3pm.

Both Lions squads will begin regular-season play in September. The addition of the UOIT Ridgebacks to the OUA men’s West division means the Lions will now play 16 games this season, beginning with the home opener against UOIT on Sunday, Sept. 5 at York Stadium. The women’s team will open on the road in London against the Western Mustangs on Wednesday, Sept. 8, with their first home game coming on Sunday, Sept. 19 against the Laurier Golden Hawks.

The Lions women’s team went a stellar 11-2-1 and finished first in the OUA West in the regular season last year and won all three playoff games, including two on penalty kicks, en route to the OUA championship. This year, they will be under the direction of new head coach Peyvand Mossavat, who came to York in April after six seasons with the Ryerson Rams.

The men’s team went undefeated in its final 10 regular-season games to finish atop the division with a 9-2-3 record, but was upended in the first round of the playoffs by the Western Mustangs.