The York Lions is the official name for the athletic

varsity teams In most English-speaking countries, varsity is an abbreviation of the word ''university''. In the United States and Canada, the term is mostly used in relation to sports teams. Varsity in the United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, varsity team ...

that represent

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. The university's varsity teams compete in the

Ontario University Athletics Ontario University Athletics (OUA; french: Sports universitaires de l'Ontario) is a regional membership association for Canadian universities which assists in co-ordinating competition between their university level athletic programs and providin ...

conference of

U Sports U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the Ca ...

and, where applicable, in the east division. The Lion's logo features a red lion from the school's logo with the university's colours, red and white. York's former teams were known as the York Yeomen and York Yeowomen, but changed their name to the gender-neutral Lions in 2003.

Interuniversity sport teams

* Badminton, basketball, volleyball, wrestling, water polo, and swimming are played at the

Tait McKenzie Centre The Tait McKenzie Centre is an athletic facility located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at York University. The building is named for R. Tait McKenzie, a renowned sculptor, doctor, soldier, physical educator, and athlete. The building was based on ...

. * Cross Country and track & field events are held at the

Metro Toronto Track and Field Centre The Toronto Track and Field Centre is a city-owned athletic training centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Prior to 1998 it was called Metro Toronto Track and Field Centre. It is located at York University's Keele campus in the north-west section of ...

* Football, rugby, and soccer games are played at

York Stadium Alumni Field is an outdoor football, rugby and soccer stadium located at York University's Keele Campus in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the former home of the York Lions. The stadium was known as York Stadium prior to 2017. The Toronto Arrows ...

. * Hockey games are played at Canlan Ice Sports – York * Tennis games are played at the

Aviva Centre Sobeys Stadium, formerly Aviva Centre and Rexall Centre, is a tennis stadium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 12,500-capacity Stadium Court is the largest stadium at the tennis complex. Sobeys Stadium is the venue for the National Bank Open pres ...

Lions football

The York Lions football team has been in operation since 1968 and currently compete in the 11-team

conference. The program is one of two in

U Sports football U Sports football is the highest level of amateur play of Canadian football and operates under the auspices of U Sports (formerly Canadian Interuniversity Sport). Twenty-seven teams from Canadian universities are divided into four athletic confer ...

to have never won a conference championship. The team has been led by head coach Warren Craney since 2010. York Lions 2012

Lions men's ice hockey

The York Lions men's ice hockey team competes in the 20-team

conference. The team has won three

national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

in 1985, 1988, and 1989. The program has also yielded seven

Queen's Cup The Queen's Cup was an annual football cup competition in Thailand, run by the Football Association of Thailand. The competition was named after Queen Sirikit. It was first contested in 1970, with Bangkok Bank and Royal Thai Air Force joint win ...

conference championships, most recently in 2017. The team's head coach has been Russ Herrington since 2017.

Lions women's ice hockey

The York Lions

women's ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hoc ...

team competes in the 13-team

conference. The team's head coach is Dan Church, who has been in that position since 2004 and is the longest-serving active head coach at York. The team was won three McCaw Cup conference championships, coming in 1983, 1987, and 1997. TaitMcKenzieCentre

Lions men's soccer

The York Lions men's soccer team has won five U Sports national championships and seven OUA conference championships. Since the hiring of head coach

Carmine Isacco Carmine Isacco (born September 20, 1970) is a Canadian soccer coach and retired player. He is currently the head coach for the York Lions varsity men's soccer team of the OUA. Playing career College years In 1989, Isacco entered the Univers ...

in 2007, the Lions have won six of these conference championships (2007, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018) and four national championships (2008, 2010, 2014, 2015). The Lions' 2008 U Sports championship was York's first national championship in any sport in 18 years, and their first soccer championship since 1977. Playing for the Lions, in 2010

Alon Badat Alon Badat (born December 3, 1989) is an Israeli footballer who plays with FC Ukraine United in the Canadian Soccer League. He played college soccer for York University, with whom he was a U Sports Championship All Star, the Ontario Univers ...

was named a

Championship All Star, and the

(OUA) West Rookie of the Year, and in 2011 he was a First-Team OUA All-Star.https://usports.ca/uploads/cis/Championships/MSOC/2018-19/York_MG.pdf The team currently competes in the 18-team

conference.

Lions women's soccer

The York Lions

women's soccer Women's association football, more commonly known simply as women's football or women's soccer, is a team sport of association football when played by women only. It is played at the women's professional sports, professional level in multiple c ...

team currently competes in the 19-team

conference. The program has had four conference championship winners, coming in 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2019. The team's head coach is also

Lions men's volleyball

The York Lions men's volleyball team currently competes in the 13-team

conference. The program has featured 13 conference championship winners, most recently in 2005. The highest that the team has finished in the national championship tournament was a second place finish in 1974. David Ta was named the team's interim head coach on August 4, 2022.

Lions women's volleyball

The York Lions women's volleyball team currently competes in the 14-team

conference. The program has had a school-record 15 conference championships with the most recent occurring 2009. In the national championship tournament, the Lions have won five bronze medals, most recently in 1991. The team has been led by head coach Jennifer Neilson since 2018.

International competition

''This is an incomplete list'' *Kelsey Webster, Ice Hockey,

2009 Winter Universiade The 2009 Winter Universiade, the XXIV Winter Universiade took place in Harbin, China. Student athletes from 44 countries took part in the games. Selection Harbin was selected by FISU on January 10, 2005 over future 2011 Winter Universiade host c ...

, *Courtney Unruh, Ice Hockey, 2011 Winter Universiade, *Kelsey Webster, Ice Hockey, 2011 Winter Universiade, *Kiri Langford, Ice Hockey,

2011 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships – Division IV The following teams took part in the Division IV tournament which was held in Reykjavík, Iceland, from March 29 to April 4. The winner of the group, New Zealand, was promoted to Division III for the 2012 championships (renamed Division IIA). Ini ...

, *

Autumn Mills Autumn Mills (born July 24, 1988) is a former competitor with the York Lions women's ice hockey program. She is a member of the Canada women's national baseball team which won a silver medal at the 2015 Pan American Games. Playing care ...

: Baseball,

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak alb ...

, *

Brittany Crew Brittany Ann Nicole Crew (born March 6, 1994, in Mississauga, Ontario) is a Canadian track and field athlete competing in the shot put. Crew is an alumna of York University in Toronto. Career In July 2016 she was named to Canada's Olympic te ...

, Track and Field,

2017 Summer Universiade The 2017 Summer Universiade (), officially known as the XXIX Summer Universiade ( zh, t=第二十九屆夏季世界大學運動會, p=Dì èrshíjiǔ jiè xiàjì shìjiè dàxué yùndònghuì) and commonly called Taipei 2017 ( zh, t=台北2 ...

(Won gold with a best throw of 18.34 meters) *

Melissa Humana-Paredes Melissa Humana-Paredes (born October 10, 1992) is a Canadian beach volleyball player, who is partnered with Brandie Wilkerson. Humana-Paredes won the women's gold medal with Sarah Pavan at the 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships. Early li ...

, Volleyball,

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships The 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships was held in Hamburg, Germany from 28 June to 7 July 2019.

Awards and honours

*Lauren Golding, U Sports Athlete of the Month, January 2020

Athletes of the Year

''This is an incomplete list''

References

External links

* {{Navboxes , title = U Sports navboxes , state = collapsed , titlestyle = background:white; color:black; border: 2px solid #FF322D; , list1 = {{U Sports basketball {{U Sports men's ice hockey {{U Sports soccer {{U Sports volleyball U Sports teams Sports teams in Toronto

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...