Lions return home to host Waterloo in critical contest for postseason hopes

The York University Lions women's rugby team is back on its home pitch this weekend to take on the Waterloo Warriors.

The Lions are still looking for their first victory of the season after dropping their first two matches of the season to the Laurier Golden Hawks and Queen's Gaels respectively. One bright spot for the Lions to this point in the season has been veteran Mistura Are, whose three tries in the season opener against the Hawks netted her the York women's athlete of the week for the period ending Sept. 1.

York will look to re-ignite the offence it found in flashes in that Laurier match, which saw them score three quick tries to cut what was a 26-7 deficit to a 33-28 deficit. While the game eventually got away, the Lions showed their ability to put up points in bunches.

The Warriors come in a team of two games in their own right, sitting at 1-1 on the season. They dropped their opener 61-7 to the McMaster Marauders before earning a 48-26 win over the Toronto Varsity Blues last weekend. Now, the Warriors come up the proverbial subway line to battle a Lions team looking to get back in the hunt in the OUA.

The last meeting between these two teams came to open the 2024 season. That game – Spencer Robinson's OUA head coaching debut – was a 50-10 Waterloo win. York will be looking to avenge that loss and earn a much-needed win.

This is also a crucial game when you consider the Lions remaining schedule after this game – road games against Toronto and Brock with their senior night against Trent sandwiched in between. Three of the Lions final four games – including Saturday against Waterloo – could be seen as winnable, and they will likely need to win all three in order to have a realistic chance at a postseason berth.

Test number one comes Saturday at Alumni Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:00 pm, and admission is free.