YORK, Pa. – The York College men's lacrosse team edged out St. Mary's (Md.) for an 8-6 victory on Wednesday afternoon at Kinsley Field in the first round of the Capital Athletic Conference Men's Lacrosse Tournament and advances to the semifinal round on Saturday.

The Spartans (10-8) got a boost of momentum in the early part of the first quarter when freshman Evan Godlewski (Annapolis, Md. / St. Mary's Annapolis) jetted up the left sied and ripped a shot from the left wing for the game's first goal. York added to their early lead with another first-quarter goal when Tyler Hutson (Westminster, Md. / Winters Mill) also scored from the left wing position after receiving a helper from Andrew Thomas (Limerick, Pa. / Spring-Ford).

With a two-goal lead midway through the first quarter, York seemed primed to break the game wide open and put the Seahawks (5-8) away early, but St. Mary's had other plans. SMC gained possession after a York turnover with 5:21 left in the first quarter and burned some clock before tallying a goal with 3:23 left in the quarter. The Seahawks wasted very little time on their next possession as they won the ensuing faceoff and scored their next goal 13 seconds later.

St. Mary's put York on its heels in the second quarter as the Seahawks scored early and took a one-goal early in the quarter. The Spartans did not back down, but instead turned up the pressure as they compiled a 12-4 shot margin and a 13-4 ground ball advantage in the second quarter. 

York's efforts paid off as the Green and White tallied two goals in the last five minutes of the half. Matt Whitcher (Huntington Station, N.Y. / Huntington) scored the first of the two tallies following an assist by Billy Busche (Gaithersburg, Md. / Damascus). The play got started in the defensive zone when Garrett Barker (Bel Air, Md. / C. Milton Wright) caused a Seahawk turnover and Tyler Fields (Catonsville, Md. / Mount St. Joseph) scooped up the ground ball to the York offense into motion for the eventual goal by Whitcher. York scored its second goal of the quarter when Hutson finished from close range on the right wing after the Spartans had missed on two shots previously in the same possession. 

The third quarter proved to be the crucial quarter in determining the outcome of the game as the Spartans put two tallies on the board, both courtesy of Andrew Gamble (Easton, Md. / Easton), while they shutout the Seahawks in the quarter. York's numbers mirrored those of the second quarter, edging out St. Mary's 10-6 in shots and 9-3 in ground balls and again winning all the faceoffs in the quarter.

Hutson scored within in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter and put York up by four. The Seahawks countered quickly, scoring a goal less than a minute later and then scoring another before reaching the midway point of the quarter to cut the deficit to two. However, the deficit moved back up to three goals just 30 seconds later as Hutson once again held St. Mary's in check with his fourth goal of the game and put York ahead 8-5.

Despite being out-shot and out-scored in the fourth quarter, the Spartans managed to slow down the Seahawk attack just enough by winning five of the six faceoffs in the quarter. Jake Katchmark (Centreville Va. / Westfield) performed exceptionally well on the draw for York as he helped win 15 of the game's 18 faceoffs. 

With the win, the Spartans advance to the semifinal round of the CAC Tournament and will travel on Saturday to face #8 Salisbury who is the No. 1 seed in the tournament. Game time for Saturday's contest has yet to be determined.

CAC Tournament Bracket 

Tyler Hutson photo courtesy of Joe Rodgers