Box Score Sunday marked a rematch of the OUA and CIS title games of a year ago between the Marauders and Lions, and the early-season match up did not disappoint. Both teams played with verve and the level of quality one would expect from national finalists, but as they had a year ago, York found the cutting edge and a 3-2 victory.

Tyrone Downs, Jonathan Lao and Michael Cox scored for the Lions, who overturned a 2-1 halftime deficit to claim victory on Sunday. Yunus Mollayev scored his third goal of the weekend, while Sasha Ricciuti also picked up a first-half tally for the Marauders in a losing effort.

Anticipation gave way to a frantic pace right from the blowing of the opening whistle, as the two teams pushed the tempo in the early going. McMaster saw a glorious scoring chance go untaken when Gersi Xhuti forced a turnover from the Lions goalkeeper but could not deposit his shot into the yawning goal in the fifth minute. York made the winger and his team pay for that miss just three minutes later, when Downs shook off a defender and moved out to the right, before freezing Marauder goalkeeper Angelo Cavalluzzo and sliding a shot inside the far post to open the scoring.

Learning and adapting from the early setback, the Marauders levelled the match in the 20th minute, when Mollayev out-duelled his defender in the air and headed past York keeper Colm Vance to extend his hot start to the 2015 season. Five minutes later, Ricciuti capped a promising stretch of play by giving the hosts the lead, when Xhuti missed a potential header in the box and the ball bounced to the winger, who smashed it past Vance for 2-1.

Safe hands and a cool head were needed from Cavalluzzo five minutes from the interval, when a Lions header in the box forced a save and quick gather in traffic. The veteran keeper was up to the task, and his team successfully carried their one-goal advantage into the break.

Eager for the equalizer, York opened the second half with greater energy, and probed the McMaster defence time and time again. The desired goal nearly came in the 57th minute, when Dena Iezady controlled a ball through the middle, turned and volleyed a shot just over the bar. Another near miss followed in the 70th, when a York header beat Cavalluzzo and thundered off the bar.

It seemed only a matter of time until the equalizer arrived, and it would do just that two minutes later, when Lao finished a lightning-fast break by lashing a shot inside the far post. Continuing to turn the screw in the midfield, York manufactured the winning effort just two minutes before the onset of injury time, as Cox once again rose above his marker in the box and headed past Cavalluzzo from close range.

McMaster pushed numbers forward in a desperate attempt to draw back even, but could not find a third goal before the full time whistle, dropping another tight decision to their West Division rivals.

The Marauders will attempt to re-enter the win column in a week's time, when they welcome the Windsor Lancers and Brock Badgers to Ron Joyce Stadium on Saturday, September 5 and Sunday, September 6 respectively.