(Wikimedia Commons)
York University has won the 2025 USport Men’s Soccer Championship. In the championship game from the University of Toronto, Ontario on Saturday, the York University Lions defeated the Mount Royal University Cougars 1-0. The game was played in very snowy and wintery conditions. The only goal scorer in the contest was Christian Zeppieri of Vaughan, Ontario, who scored on a penalty in the 115th minute.
The Lions and Cougars played the entire 90 minutes of regulation without a goal. Zeppieri’s game-winner came with only five minutes left in the second overtime period. Zeppieri was given a penalty kick because the Cougars were called for a hand ball. It was Zeppieri’s fourth goal of the tournament, and he was named the tournament’s most valuable player. The other Lions star in the game was goalkeeper Michael Williams of Kingston, Ontario. Williams made six saves for the shutout.
Zeppieri led York in scoring in their 5-1 quarterfinal win over Dalhousie on Thursday. Zeppieri had two goals, while Ryan Robinson of Hamilton. Ontario, and James Fidalgo had one goal each. The other York goal came from a Dalhousie own goal. In the semifinals on Friday, York University beat Montreal 2-0. Zeppieri scored again for York, and the Lions’s other goal was an own goal by the Carabins.
With the win, York University won the Sam Davidson Memorial Trophy presented to the Canadian University Men’s Soccer champion. York previously won in 1977 (beat Concordia 2-1 in the final at the University of Waterloo), in 2008 (beat Trinity Western University 1-0 in the final at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario), and in 2014 (beat McMaster University 1-0 in the final at the University of Prince Edward Island).
