YORK, PA – The sixth ranked Spartan women's lacrosse team opened their season in impressive fashion as they used a big second half to down Washington College 16-9 on Tuesday afternoon in York. After a close first half, the Spartans exploded for 10 second half goals to blow the game open.

Game #1

Final Score: #6 York (Pa.) 16, Washington (Md.) 9

Records: York (Pa.) 1-0, Washington (Md.) 0-1

Shots: York 40, WC 25

Shots on Goal: York 27, WC 17

Ground Balls: York 20, WC 12

Turnovers: York 11, WC 17

Clears: York 14-for-15, WC 16-for-20

Draw Controls: York 16, WC 11

Free Position Shots: York 1-for-8, WC 1-for-7

Fouls: York 20, WC 25

How It Happened:

• The Spartans opened the scoring 3:55 into the game as Regan Cook raced down the middle of the Shorewomen defense and slotted home the shot for the 1-0 lead. Alison Pantazes knotted the score at one just under two minutes later as she put home a free position shot to get Washington on the board.

• The Spartans answered with three straight goals as Skye Slater had a pair of goals sandwiched around a Devin Hursey tally to give York a 4-1 lead. Aubrey Robinson and Colleen Keefe scored goals for Washington, cutting York's lead to 4-3. Hayley McCormick and Meghan Fox converted shots for the Spartans to give York a 6-3 lead with 3:04 remaining in the opening half. Kristy Grovorm closed out the first half scoring with a goal with 2:29 left to give the Spartans a 6-4 lead at the half.

• York outshot the Shorewomen 20-14 in the first half while they also had an 8-3 advantage in draw controls.

• The Shorewomen opened the second half scoring with another Grovom goal just 1:03 into the second half but that's as close as it would get as York ripped off an impressive 8-1 run to turn a one goal game into a 14-6 advantage. Hursey kick off the run and then assisted on back-to-back man-up goals from Cook. Slater and Fox had a pair of goals on the run while Cook also added a third in the game-changing run.

• The Shorewomen outscored York 3-2 over the final ten minutes of the game but the damage had been done and the Spartans had earned the season-opening win.

Spartan Leaders:

Devin Hursey: 3 goals, 4 assists, 1 ground ball, 2 caused turnovers

Hayley McCormick: 2 goals, 3 assists, 2 ground balls, 1 caused turnover

Regan Cook: 4 goals, 1 assist, 4 ground balls, 1 caused turnover

Skye Slater: 4 goals, 2 ground balls, 1-for-1 FPS

Meghan Fox: 3 goals, 1 ground ball

Nicole Clauter: 7 draw controls, 4 ground balls, 3 caused turnovers

Claudia DiVenti: 7 draw controls, 1 caused turnover

Shorewomen Leaders:

Alison Pantazes: 2 goals, 1 assist, 1-for-2 FPS

Cecily Docktor: 2 goals, 1 assist, 0-for-1 FPS

Aubrey Robinson:  2 goals

Kristy Grovom:  2 goals, 5 draw controls, 1 caused turnover

Madison Schutz:  2 ground balls, 3 draw controls, 1 caused turnover

Goalie Comparison

Abby Smith (YCP): 60 minutes played, 9 goals against, 8 saves (Win, 1-0)

Isabella Richardson (WC): 60 minutes played, 16 goals against, 11 saves (Loss, 0-1)

Notes:

The Spartans are now 10-2 in season openers under head coach Jen Muston … York is 11-3 in season openers in program history … York has won it's last four season openers by a combined score of 60-21 … senior Abby Smith eanred her first collegiate win in goal as she registered eight saves in the game … junior Meghan Fox now has 99 career goals as she is on the cusp of becoming just the fifth Spartan in school history to reach 100 goals for her career … Fox currently ranks seventh in school history in points with 120, four back of former Spartan standout Sarah Castle (124 points from 2012-15) … senior Nicole Clauter picked up seven more draw controls in the season opener as she now has 223 for her career … Clauter is 41 draws away from school record holder Leah Schultz (2010-13).

Up Next

The Spartans open up a three-game road trip on Saturday as the head to Montclair State University to take on the Red Hawks in a non-conference contest. First draw from Montclair, N.J. is set for 12:30 pm.