YORK, PA – The York College field hockey team made history on Wednesday night as the Spartans earned a 4-2 NCAA Tournament win over DeSales University in the opening round of the tournament. The match was the first-ever NCAA Tournament game for both teams and the Spartans earned the historic program win.
The Spartans improve to 16-5 overall while the Bulldogs ended their outstanding campaign with a mark of 15-5.
 
How It Happened
• The Spartans brought the early pressure and it did not take long to find the back of the net as Katie Martino sent it home in the third minute of play. Brooke Cordisco drove to the right end line following a foul restart and fed a pass to the middle where Martino stepped in front of her defender to send a shot underneath the pads of Bulldog goalie Kayla Yeatman.
• The York lead was short-lived as DeSales responded four minutes later. Tyra Wingle and Caroline McGrath put together on a two-on-one fast break which forced Spartan goalie Belle Fields to leave her net to make a play on the ball. McGrath managed to chip a pass around Fields to Wingle who tapped the ball into the wide-open net for her 19th tally of the season.
• York started the second quarter with eight unanswered shots and six-straight corners before tallying a pair of goals on corners less than three minutes apart. Maggie Spadafora had the first as she redirected a Sara Pique pass around the pads of Yeatman. Connie Harburda tallied the second as she deflected a Carrie Shuey shot into the back of the cage for the Spartans' third goal of the game.
• DeSales showed their resiliency once again as the Bulldogs responded with a goal of their own on a corner 33 seconds after York scored their third. Wingle found the back of the cage for the second time on the night as she tipped in a shot from the point by Sarah Peterson.
• The two teams combined for just four shots in the third quarter with three of them by York and all found their way on target. York had chances late to extend the lead with back-to-back corners in the final 23 seconds, but shots by Riley Buschert and Huffman were both turned away by Yeatman.
• The Spartans added an insurance goal in the fourth quarter as Martino fired a shot on goal that was saved by Yeatman. The ball was loose in front of the cage and Harburda collected the loose ball in the circle and poked it past Yeatman with 8:02 left in the game. The Bulldogs had a trio of shots in the final three minutes of the game but Fields recorded a pair of saves to provide for the final two-goal margin of victory.
• Yeatman was fantastic in goal for the Bulldogs as she registered a career-high 16 saves in the game.
 
Spartan Notes
The Spartans are now 3-0 all-time against DeSales … it was the first meeting between the two teams since October 9, 2012 … junior Katie Martino notched her team-leading 19^th goal of the year as she opened the scoring in the game … senior Connie Harburda recorded a career-high two goals in the win … her first goal proved to be the game-winning goal, her second of the year … the Spartans out shot the Bulldogs 28-8 … that's the most shots since they recorded 28 in the October 22 win over Eastern … York has recorded over 25 shots in six games this year … York allowed two goals in a game for just the fourth time this year with three of those games coming at Kinsley Field … York finishes the home campaign with a record of 7-2 … the 16 wins breaks the previous school record of 15 set by the 1998 squad … the Spartans are now 30-10 in their last two seasons … York is 16-4 at Kinsley Field in the last two years … the Spartans head out on the road for the rest of the year and York is 9-3 away from home in 2022.
 
Up Next
The Spartans head to Salisbury, Maryland to face off against the top-seeded Salisbury Sea Gulls in the second round of the tournament on Saturday. Game time at Sea Gull Stadium is set for 10:00 am. The Sea Gulls, who are the tournament's top overall seed, blanked the Spartans 1-0 in their regular season meeting.