YORK, PA-The York College field hockey squad played 65 minutes of solid hockey to open their Capital Athletic Conference contest against Wesley College. Unfortunately for York, the game is 70 minutes long. When it was all over, the Spartans were able to survive a hectic final final five minutes of the game and earn a 4-3 victory over the Wolverines. The Spartans improve to 5-4 overall and 2-1 in the CAC while the Wolverines fall to 4-4 overall and 0-2 in the conference.
    The Spartans struck early as Casey Knauss (St. Michael's, Md./Easton) took a free hit from outside of the circle. That hit was tipped into the cage by junior Megan Spangler (Myerstown, Pa./Eastern Lebanon County) for her team-leading ninth goal of the year. The tally came just 2:28 into the game as the Spartans scored on their first shot of the game.
    The two teams spent much of the first half playing in the midfield. The Wolverines did outshoot York 7-3 in the first half but the green and white held the 1-0 lead at the break.
    The second half proved to be an offensive explosion for both squads. The Spartans opened the second half scoring with an April McFarland (York, Pa./Eastern York) unassisted goal as she fired an initial shot that was saved before converting the rebound for her eighth goal of the year. McFarland's tally came just 2:45 into the second half.
    The green and white pushed the lead to 3-1 when Allison Roush (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) took a Spangler pass off a restart and pushed the ball past Wesley goalie Sarah Johnson for her third goal of the year. Roush's goal came in the game's 42nd minute.
    The Wolverines got on the board with 21:46 remaining in regulation as Sam Marconi picked up a goal off an Ashley Kisner assist. The goal was Marconi's fourth of the 2008 campaign.
    York pushed their advantage back to three goals as Spangler struck for her second goal of the game as she put home a rebound off a shot from Knauss with 12:03 remaining in the game.
    The Wolverines made things very interesting late as Brooke Tadlock scored an unassisted tally with 4:49 remaining in regulation. Wesley struck again just 3:24 later as Marconi notched her second goal of the game, trimming the Spartan lead to one goal. York was able to kill off the final 1:25 of the game and earn the CAC win.
    The Wolverines finished the game holding a 13-10 edge in shots while both teams had eight shots on target. The Wolverines also held a slight 5-4 margin in penalty corners.
    Spartan netminder Claire Rekitzke (Seaford, Del./Seaford Senior) finished the day with four saves as she allowed all three Wesley goals. Johnson recorded three saves while she allowed all four Spartan tallies.
    The Spartans return to action on Thursday as they travel to Stevenson University to face the Mustangs. Game time in Owings Mills, MD is set for 4:30 pm.

GAME BOX

April McFarland photo courtesy of Mike Adams