WASHINGTON, DC-The York College field hockey squad completed their two-game fall break road trip with a 4-0 loss to former Capital Athletic Conference rival Catholic University on Sunday afternoon in Washington, DC. The Spartans, losers of two straight and four of their last five, fall to 7-10 overall while the Cardinals improve to 8-4 for the campaign.
    The first half lacked much offense as there were just three shots in the entire 35 minutes of play. The Cardinals had all three of those shots and found pay dirt on the third as Kelly Burke converted an unassisted goal 7:04 remaining prior to the half. Catholic also managed to hold a 7-3 margin in penalty corners in the first half.
    In the second half, the Cardinals pushed the lead to 2-0 just 4:46 into the stanza as Mary Swarthout notched an unassisted goal. Swarthout extended the lead to 3-0 as she scored off a Kendall Petschauer pass with 25:23 remaining in regulation.
    Catholic closed out the scoring on a Tory Gagliardi goal with no time remaining in the game on a penalty corner, providing the Cardinals with their final four-goal margin of victory.
    The Cardinals finished the game out-shooting York 8-3 while the hosts also had a 13-7 edge in penalty corners.
    Marian Cassilly earned the shutout in goal as she registered two saves for Catholic. Spartan goalie Claire Rekitzke (Seaford, Del./Seaford Senior) started and played the first 27:56 of the game before giving way to Maggie Schlauch (Breinigsville, Pa./Parkland) for the final 42:04. Rekitzke allowed one goal and did not make a save while Schlauch allowed three goals and made two saves during her stint between the pipes.
    The Spartans are now off until October 23 when they host Wilson to start a regular season-ending three-game home stand. The action kicks off at Kinsley Field at 4:00 pm.

GAME BOX

Allison Roush photo courtesy of Steve Doemland