Mens Soccer vs. York 2012 Gallery The York Lions scored in the 80^th minute to defeat the Guelph Gryphons 1-0 tonight (Oct. 5) in men's soccer action played at the Gryphons Soccer Complex.
 
The disappointing loss drops the Gryphons to 5-5-1 and keeps the Lions' undefeated streak alive at 10-0-1.
 
The Gryphons came out determined to topple the No. 1 CIS squad by matching the Lions stride for stride.  With a strong cross in the 13th minute to a wide open Mike Bijman (Brantford, Ont.), it seemed as though the Gryphons would be the ones to strike first.  However, as the ball soared over the crossbar the home crowd quickly realized the Lions weren't going down that easily.
 
Matters for the Gryphons' defence slowly got worse as Jeremy Gaylor (Mississauga, Ont.) went down in the 20^th minute.  He would not return for the course of the game.  Thankfully Paul Manchisi (Oakville, Ont.) and Justin Springer (Burlington, Ont.) were able to rally the defence around a steady stream of substitutes to fend off the Lions for the rest of the half. 
 
A strong physical play by Jared Agyemang (Brampton, Ont.) tied the shot count up at two and thrust the momentum in Guelph's favour going into the half.
 
Determined to crack the scoring stage, both teams were able to double their shots by the 70^th minute mark but stellar performances by Chad Paparoni (Brampton, Ont.) and Sotiri Varlokostas in net kept the game tied at zero.  
 
Merely ten minutes later would see the game's first sign of defensive weakness as York's Terence Linatoc was able to sneak past Chad Paparoni to tally the game winning goal.  A free kick for Guelph in the 90th minute was too little too late as the toughened Lions defence held out the Gryphon strikers for the duration of extra time.
 
The Gryphons look to rebound from tonight's tough loss against the Brock Badgers as they host them next Wednesday (Oct. 10) at the Gryphons Soccer Complex.  The game begins at 12:45 pm.