SELINSGROVE, PA – The York College
men's lacrosse team won their final game before Capital
Athletic Conference tournament play begins with a 8-5 victory over
Susquehanna in Selinsgrove, PA on Wednesday. The win pushes the
Spartans' 2008 record to 8-6 while the Crusaders fall to 3-8.
The Spartans came out flat and the Crusaders jumped on them to
garner a two-goal lead midway through the first quarter. Tim Storck
registered Susquehanna's first score at the 8:56 mark while
Matt Trimble tacked on the home squad's second with 6:49
remaining in the quarter.
The pair of goals seemed to wake up senior midfielder
Chris Chappelle (Stevensville, Md./Chesapeake) as
he scored the game's next two goals. Chappelle's first
came with 5:18 left on the first quarter clock with his second
coming with only 50 seconds remaining in the opening stanza.
Unfortunately for the Spartan side, Susquehanna would add their
third tally of the game with only one second left as Greg Norris
gave his team the 3-2 lead heading into the second frame.
After a rough first quarter, the Spartans finally got settled
into the contest and rattled off the game's next six goals.
The first three of these six came in the second quarter.
Steve Roy (Feasterville, Pa./Archbishop Wood)
connected with Ryan McNicholas (Fallston,
Md./Fallston) with 10:34 to play in the half.
McNicholas' equalizer brought score line level at 3-3 and the
Spartans would never trail again. Josh Gamble (Easton,
Md./Easton) backed up his outstanding performance against
Mary Washington last Saturday, with a score at the 8:22 mark to
give the green and white their first lead of the day. Six minutes
later, Kyle Henninger (Millers, Md./Hereford)
posted the 21st goal of his senior campaign to put the Spartans
ahead two at 5-3 going into the halftime break.
McNicholas would then notch his second goal of the game at the
9:22 mark in the third quarter on an assist from Brian
O'Neill (Lititz, Pa./Manheim Township). York would
hit a slight lull and was kept off the scoreboard for the next nine
minutes until Chappelle tallied his third of the game with 35
seconds left in the stanza.
York's final score would come 15 seconds into the fourth
quarter as Chris Norman (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck)
recorded the Spartans' eighth goal.
Susquehanna would cut the Spartans' margin of victory to
8-5 with a pair of goals in the fourth frame. Dan Torie assisted on
a Ryan Walters score with 10:35 remaining while Brett Brown added
For the game, Chappelle led all scorers with three goals as he
bumps up his season total to eleven. McNicholas' two tallies
give him a team-leading 23 for the season. O'Neill continues
his quality distribution as he added a pair of assists and is now
tied with Henninger for the team-high of 12 helpers.
Mike LaRoque (Arnold, Md./DeMatha) was again solid
in face-offs winning 7-of-11 and picking up eight ground balls.
Junior defenseman Steve Mersinger (Westminster,
Md./Westminster) picked up five ground balls.
The Crusaders spread out their scoring as all five goals came
from different players. Norris did chip in with an assist, while
Torie and Fred Morse also had helpers. Eric Burkhard collected a
team-best six ground balls.
Matt Keeler (Morton, Pa./Ridley) earns the
victory in the Spartan goal as he made seven saves. Chris
Collins (Westminster, Md./Westminster) relieved Keeler in
the fourth quarter and made two stops. Kirk Ryan takes the loss in
net for the Crusaders as he made five stops while Mike Finne made
four saves during the fourth quarter.
York now waits to see who their opponent will be in the first
round of the CAC tournament, which begins Tuesday, April 14. Please
visit www.ycpspartans.com for more information, as the pairings
will be announced this weekend.
BOX SCORE
Chris Chappelle photo courtesy of Steve Doemland
