Box Score YORK, PA – The York College women's lacrosse team made history on Tuesday night as they won their first-ever MAC Commonwealth tournament game as they beat seventh-seeded Hood 15-3 at Kinsley Field.
The Spartans, who are ranked 13th in this week's IWLCA Coaches Poll, improve to 11-2 overall with the win. They advance to host third-seeded Widener as the Pride survived #6 Albright 11-10 in overtime in their quarterfinal game.
The Blazers end the season with a record of 3-8.
How It Happened
• The Blazers won the opening draw and used the entire 90 second play clock as the Spartan defense forced the violation. The Spartans took the turnover and found the back of the net on their first shot as Teresa Matthias scored off an assist from Celly Arthur.
• The Blazers won the second draw and were awarded a free position shot on a Spartan foul. The shot was high and the Spartans would eventually force another turnover. York then converted the miscue into a Jenna Cholowinski goal and a 2-0 lead.
• The Spartans ripped off three goals in the next three minutes, pushing the lead to 5-0. Arthur had a pair of goals surrounding a Chloe MacDonald tally as the Spartans were completely controlling the contest.
• The Green and White offense kept clicking as they ripped off five more goals to push the lead to 11-0. Rachel Della, Kiersten Blanchard, MacDonald, Matthias, Madison Marciniak, and Arthur scored goals for York.
• The Blazers broke up the shutout with 2:55 left in the first on a Jess Lyons free position goal. Hood scored a final first half goal as they broke the full ride and MacKenzi Wright had a one-on-one with goalie Riley DiFiore that she was able to finish with 19 seconds left in the half.
• The second half was far more sedate on the offensive end as the scoring pace slowed significantly. Hood scored their third straight goal just under nine minutes into the second half, cutting York's lead to 11-3.
• The Spartan offense got back on track thanks to another MacDonald goal at the 19:51 mark. MacDonald scored another goal less than 40 seconds later to make it 13-3. Blanchard added a pair of goals midway through the half to push the York lead to 12 goals.
• Neither team would find the back of the net over the final 13:28 of the game.
Spartan Leaders
Junior Celly Arthur had another big game as she had seven points with three goals and four assists … she also had two ground balls and a draw control … Chloe MacDonald also had a big night with four goals and one assist for five points while she also had three draw controls … Kiersten Blanchard had a trio of goals to go along with three ground balls and a draw control … Jenna Cholowinski led the Spartans with four draw controls to go along with a goal and a ground ball … Emmy Bryden notched three draw controls and a ground ball … goalie Riley DiFiore notched four saves in the first half to earn the win in goal for York.
Notes
The Spartans are now 9-0 all-time against Hood … the Spartans are now 12-13 all-time in conference tournament matches (Capital Athletic Conference and MAC Commonwealth combined) … York is now 5-4 all-time in conference tournament quarterfinal rounds including four straight quarterfinal wins … junior Celly Arthur broke the single-season assist record with her four dimes in the win … Arthur now has 47 assists in 13 games for the year … former All-American Devin Hursey held the previous record of 43 set in 2019 … Arthur now has 76 assists as she is 16 away from tying Hursey's school record of 92 assists … Arthur is now tenth in career points with 117 … junior goalie Riley DiFiore now has 15 career wins which ties her for sixth on the all-time wins list ... the Spartans went 0-for-4 in free position chances for the game, it's the first time they failed to convert at least one free position chance in a game this year … York had 22 ground balls, their third highest total of the year … the Spartan defense limited Hood to just three goals and that's the seventh time this year they have held an opponent to three goals or less.
Up Next
The Spartans will host third-seeded Widener in the MAC Commonwealth semifinals on Thursday night at Kinsley Field. First draw is set for 7:00 pm in York.
