ROCHESTER, N.Y. - An early deficit proved costly as the No. 6 York College men's lacrosse team suffered a 17-7 defeat to No. 1 Tufts on Saturday in the NCAA Quarterfinals at RIT.

Team records

#6/4 York 16-2

#1/1 Tufts 9-0

How it happened

Both teams played nearly five full minutes of scoreless lacrosse as each goalie made a pair of saves, but Tufts broke the seal with 10:17 left in the first quarter. The Spartans kept the Jumbos off the board for the next four minutes, but then the second-best scoring offense in the nation ripped off three goals in 49 seconds as Tufts took a 4-0 lead with 5:29 left in the first. The Spartans struggled to gain traction with turnovers and missed shots as Tufts pounced one more time with a tally in the final minute of the first quarter. York finally caught the break it needed as Will Harnick netted a tally with 14 seconds left in the opening quarter following a Vinny Facciponti face-off win as the Spartans trailed, 5-1, after one period of play.

York found continued success at the face-off X early in the second quarter, but coughed it up right after gaining possession which led directly to a pair of goals for Tufts. The Spartans were able to fight back as Harnick netted back-to-back goals to cut the deficit to four with 7:51 left in the second quarter. From there, York would go on to send five shots wide of the net and Jumbo goalie Jack Theur made three saves to silence the Spartans for the rest of the quarter. Jack Michael made a pair of saves of his own down the stretch, but a turnover by the Spartan netminder in the final minute of the quarter proved costly as Tufts cashed in one more time to take an 8-3 lead into halftime.

Tufts dominated the possession in the third quarter and made the most of their opportunities, scoring seven times on 15 total shots. The Jumbos held the Spartans to zero goals and just three shots in the third, while Tufts went six-for-eight at the face-off X. Michael did his best to limit the damage with four saves in the frame, but Tufts kept getting second chances as they owned a 20-6 ground ball advantage in the third quarter alone as they opened up a 15-3 lead.

A feel-good moment for York was having four different seniors account for all four of York's goals in the fourth quarter, with seniors recording assists on three of those goals. Brendan O'Sullivan got things started as he netted his 60th goal of the season to extend his record-setting mark. Fellow seniors Paul Poholsky, Gunnar Reynolds and Chandler Schmidt also found the back of the net for presumably the final time in the Spartan uniform. Dylan Wolf, Sean McQuade and Poholksy handed out the final three assists for the Spartans this season as York out-scored Tufts, 4-2, in the final quarter of play.

Up next

Tufts advances to face No. 3 RIT tomorrow for the right to go to the national championship game.

Notes

The Spartans are now to 10-6 all-time in NCAA postseason games as they have reached the NCAA Quarterfinals three-straight times and four times overall in six NCAA postseason appearances … York has now lost to a No. 1 ranked team twice in the NCAA Quarterfinals as they also fell to RIT, 12-7, in 2018 … the Spartans suffered just their fourth loss away from Kinsley Field since the start of the 2018 season as they are 30-4 during that span, including a 17-game road win streak that came to a close earlier this season at Stevenson … York trailed just five times all season, overcoming first-half deficits in victories over DeSales and Eastern (5/5) and came back from a second-half deficit to defeat F&M … the 17 goals by Tufts is the just the fourth time the Spartan defense has given up double-digits this season and is the most goals a York team has surrendered since a 17-10 loss to No. 1 Salisbury on April 12, 2017 ...  Brendan O'Sullivan cemented his single-season goals record at 60 as he ranks 11th all-time in program history with 90 goals … Jack Michael matched his career-high with 16 saves on the day and finished with the second-best single-season goals-against average in program history with 6.47.