Box Score YORK, PA – The York College women's soccer team closed out their 2014 regular season with a 3-0 Capital Athletic Conference win over Penn State Harrisburg on Wednesday afternoon in York.
The Spartans improve to 9-5-3 overall and 5-3-1 in the CAC. The Lions see their season come to an end with a mark of 5-12 overall and 1-8 in the league.
The Green and White controlled the play early in the match. That control paid off in the 17th minute when senior Kayla Kovalsky (Merrick, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) collected a pass and dribbled into the box. She unleashed a shot that found the back of the net inside the right post for the 1-0 Spartan lead. The goal was Kovalsky's second of the year.
The Lions would hold the Spartans off the board the remainder of the first half despite York outshooting Harrisburg 9-1 in the opening stanza.
The Spartans added to their lead in the 58th minute of the match. Senior Beth Bunn (Lotian, Md./Calverton School) played a ball from the top of the box towards freshman Maxine Herman (Dover, Pa./Dover). The forward collected the pass and banged a shot inside the left post for the goal, her fifth goal of the campaign.
Sophomore Elexa Sherman (Collegeville, Pa./Methacton) put the finishing touches on the win with her first goal of the year in the game's 78th minute. Sherman gathered the ball on the left wing, drove into the box and fired off a shot that beat Lion keeper Mackenzie Gates inside the far right post, giving York the 3-0 lead.
That would be more than enough for the Spartan defense as York posted its seventh clean sheet of the year. The Spartans went keeper by committee as three York netminders combined on the whitewash. Sophomore Stevi Lukacz (Leesport, Pa./Schuylkill Valley) started and played the first 27:52, as she was not forced to make a save. Sophomore Kate Lutte (Catasauqua, Pa./Catasauqua) played the next 37:24 and also did not need to make a save. Sophomore Alex Wright (York, Pa./Central York) played the final 24:44 of the match and recorded York's only two saves of the match.
Gates went the distance in goal for the Lions as she notched seven saves in her 90 minutes of work.
The Spartans finished the game outshooting Harrisburg 21-5 including 10-2 in shots on goal. York earned 11 corners in the match while the Lions had just two.
The Spartans will now head to Frostburg State University to begin the defense of their Capital Athletic Conference championship. The Spartans and Bobcats tangle in an opening round game on Saturday afternoon with the game time to be determined on Thursday. The fifth seeded Spartans will likely need to win three road games to earn a second consecutive conference crown.
Elexa Sherman photo courtesy of David Sinclair
