YORK, PA – The Christopher Newport Captains claimed their first-ever men's lacrosse win over York College as the Captains edged the Spartans 7-6 in the regular season finale for both squads.

The Captains improve to 11-4 overall and 6-2 in the Capital Athletic Conference as CNU earned the third seed in the upcoming conference tournament. The Spartans are now 9-8 overall as they fall to 5-3 in the league. The Spartans will be the fourth seed in this week's league tournament.

The Captains got off to a great start in the game as they scored the first three goals of the contest. Conversely, while the Captains were flowing offensively, the Spartans were struggling to get something going in their offensive third. CNU outshot York 12-4 in the first 15 minutes of the game while York committed seven turnovers.

York got on track in the second quarter. Freshman Evan Godlewski (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary's Annapolis) got York on the board with a goal 3:35 into the period. Brooks Billings put the Captains up 4-1 with a goal at the 10:10 mark. The Spartans responded by scoring the final three goals of the quarter to knot the game at four heading to the intermission.

The third quarter started off slowly but the Captains netted a pair of goals to take a 6-4 lead with 5:20 left in the period. Dan Kaplan (Ellicott City, Md./Howard) cashed out an opportunity with 3:37 left in the quarter to cut the Spartan deficit to one. Senior All-American Tyler Hutson (Westminster, Md./Winters Mill) got the Spartans even on a shot from the right wing with 18 seconds left in the quarter to give York the momentum heading into the final 15 minutes of play.

Unfortunately for York, they couldn't carry that momentum deep into the quarter as the Spartan offense struggled to break the tie. The Captains got the game-winner from John Thompson as he drilled an impressive goal from the left wing. Thompson jumped as he shot and fired the ball into the back of the net with 8:45 left in regulation. York got three shots on target in the final 6:02 of regulation but Captain goalie Matt Hayden stood tall with a trio of saves to preserve the upset victory for CNU.

Randy Foster and Thompson led the Captains in the win as they both had two goals and one assist for three points. Casey Cooke, Billings, and Matthew Crist each had goals for the Captains. Four different Captains had four ground balls to lead the squad while Hayden and Harrison Drier each caused a pair of Spartan turnovers. Nick Kirschke was 6-for-12 from the X for the Captains.

York got six goals from six different scorers as Hutson, Kaplan, Godlewski, Andrew Gamble (Easton, Md./Easton), Matt Whitcher (Huntington Station, N.Y./Huntington), and Dillon Hannah (Catonsville, Md./Catonsville) scored for York. Hutson and Hannah also had assists for York. Jake Katchmark (Centreville, Va./Westfield) went 8-for-15 at the X while he also had four ground balls. Sophomore Sam Lundin (Newark, Del./Delaware Military Academy) led York with three caused turnovers while he also had three ground balls.

Hayden earned the win in goal as he recorded 13 saves in his 60 minutes in goal. Caleb Abney (Forest Hill, Md./Fallston) suffered the loss as he allowed six goals in his 56:11 of work. Abney made nine saves for the Green and White. James Anderson (Pasadena, Md./Annapolis Area Christian) played 3.49 for York as he made two saves and allowed one goal.

The stats in the game couldn't have been closer. York held a 33-32 advantage in total shots while CNU had a 32-25 margin in ground balls. Both teams committed 15 turnovers while York held an 8-7 margin in face off wins.

The Spartans begin their journey in the CAC tournament on Wednesday when they host fifth seeded St. Mary's College in the first round of the tournament. First face off is set for 4:00 pm on Wednesday afternoon at Kinsley Field. The winner of that game advances to face top seeded Salisbury in next Saturday's CAC Semifinals.

Evan Godlewski photo courtesy of Joe Rodgers