YORK, PA-The York College women's soccer team saw their offense explode for four second-half goals en route to a 4-0 non-conference victory over Susquehanna University on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon at Graham Field in York. The Spartans continue their hot start as they improve to 3-0 overall while the Crusaders fall to 0-1-1 for the young season.

The Spartans dominated play from the start of the game as they fired off the first three shots of the contest before the Crusaders notched their lone first half shot, an attempt by Abby Montgomery that flew wide of the mark in the 19th minute. York carried the play the remainder of the half as they fired five shots on target in the stanza but Crusader goalie Alyssa Kemmerer kept York off the board as the game headed to the break as a scoreless tie.

York outshot Susquehanna 8-1 in the first half while they also held a 3-1 margin in corner kicks through the first 45 minutes of the game.

The Green and White came out of the intermission and continued to take the play to the visitors. York notched five of the first six shots of the half before the Spartans finally found the mark in the 62nd minute. Junior captain Steph Mergler (Street, Md./North Harford) hit a great ball on a corner kick, and after the ball rattled around in the box, sophomore Stephanie Rice (Glen Rock, Pa./Susquehannock) knocked the ball home for the game's first tally. That goal opened the floodgates for the Spartans as they would go on to score three more goals over the final 15 minutes of the game.

Rice almost got a second goal less than three minutes later as she collected another loose ball in the box and her attempt rocketed off the cross bar as she was denied in her attempt to put the Spartans up 2-0.

York made it 2-0 on a bomb off the foot of senior Kaitlyn Harney (Stewartstown, Pa./York Catholic) as she received pass from Lacey Phillips (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake Senior) and fired a long shot over Kemmerer's head in the 76th minute. Phillips played a key role in the Spartans' third goal as she fed junior Erin Mummert (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) with a pass that Mummert drilled between Kemmerer and the far post in the 82nd minute. York closed out the scoring in the 89th minute as Mergler got her second goal of the year off a give-and-go with Ali Jones (Riva, Md./Archbishop Spalding).

The Spartans finished the game holding a 22-3 edge in total shots and a 13-1 bulge in shots on goal. York also finished with a 10-2 margin in corner kicks for the match.

Spartan sophomore Sarah Spanarkel (Toms River, N.J./Toms River North) and junior Desiree Halaka (Southampton, N.Y./Southampton) combined for the clean sheet. Spanarkel played the first 81:07 of the game and recorded one save while Halaka played the final 8:53 and did not face a shot. Kemmerer deserved a better fate as she played well despite giving up the four goals. She recorded nine saves as she went the distance for the Crusaders.

Spartan head coach Vicki Sterner was pleased to see the Spartans come out strong after giving up early goals in their first two contests.

“We had a simple goal of coming out strong to start the game which I thought we did,” said Sterner. “Susquehanna played tough but we really came out and played well in the second half. I was very happy with our result today.”

The Spartan defense registered their first shutout of the year after finishing 2008 with eight white washings.

York returns to action on Wednesday afternoon as they travel to Dickinson College. Game time in Carlisle is set for 5:00 pm.

GAME BOX

Photo: Erin Mummert tallied her first goal of the year midway through the second half. (Photo courtesy of Steve Doemland -  www.stevedoemland.com)