Adrian Pena scored in the 59th minute as the York Lions advanced to the CIS men's soccer final with a 1-0 victory over the Saint Mary's Huskies on Saturday afternoon.
York, which won both of its previous appearances (1977, 2008) in the championship game, will face the UBC Thunderbirds in Sunday's final.
UBC beat Toronto 3-0 in the other semifinal, sending the Blues into the bronze-medal match against the Huskies.
The Lions, playing a man short after Selvin Lammie of Toronto was handed a red card in the 38th minute, scored the winner off a free kick.
The Western Mustangs upset the defending champion Laval Rouge et Or 1-0 in the consolation final.
Pena, who missed a penalty kick in the first half, sent a bending shot past Huskies goalkeeper Adam Miller of Halifax.
"We always find a way to make things interesting," said Pena. "Any player can miss a penalty kick, it's how a player can respond after missing. I knew that I owed my team a goal, so I knew that I had to go out there and play my hardest and get the goal."
In the later semifinal, freshmen Brandon Bonifacio, Navid Mashinchi and Alejandro Isern scored as the Thunderbirds advanced to their first final since 2007 when they defeated Laval 2-1.
Bonifacio opened the scoring less than a minute into the game, Mashinchi extended the lead in the 24th, and Isern sealed it with a penalty strike in the 70th.
"A little bit of quality right off the bat put us on our way," UBC head coach Mike Mosher said of Bonifacio's goal. "It's unbelievable when you can score early, let alone the first minute. It just completely settles a team and puts your opponents on their heels right away."
In the consolation final, Pat Mroczek connected on a cross from Dominic Bell to score the game's only goal in the 17th minute.
"It felt good to finally get a nice connection," Mroczek said after the match. "We knew we were in for a tough game and that it wasn't going to be easy."