CHESTER, PA – The ninth-ranked York College women's lacrosse team ended their regular season with their sixth straight win as the Spartans cruised past Widener 15-4 in Chester, PA on Saturday.
The Spartans, who had secured the MAC Commonwealth's top seed on Wednesday, finish the conference season a perfect 8-0 and are now 23-1 as members of the MAC Commonwealth. York has won 22 straight regular season Commonwealth contests.
The Spartans improve to 14-3 overall and 8-0 in the MAC while the Widener falls to 10-7 overall and 5-3 in the league.
How It Happened
• The Spartans got off to a great start in the first half as they ripped off seven goals in the first quarter to take a commanding lead.
Logan Ward and
Teresa Matthias each scored a pair of goals in the opening quarter while
Sydney Mentzer,
Zoe Kluegel, and
Madison Kurland each added single tallies in the quarter.
• The second quarter was much of the same as York blanked the Pride 5-0 in the second 15 minutes of play. Mentzer scored twice while Matthias, Kluegel and
Anya Litofsky also scored for York.
• The Spartan lead grew to 14-0 with goals from Kluegel and Kurland in the third quarter as the offensive pace slowed. The Pride broke up the shutout with 13:31 left in the game and Widener would score four straight goals in the quarter to trim York's lead to 14-4.
Kiersten Blanchard closed out the scoring for York late in the fourth quarter to provide for the final 11-goal margin of victory.
Spartan Leaders
Teresa Matthias: 3 goals, 1 draw control
Sydney Mentzer: 3 goals, 2 ground balls, 3 draw controls
Zoe Kluegel: 3 goals, 1 ground ball
Madison Kurland: 2 goals, 1 assist, 3 ground balls, 2 caused turnovers
Kiersten Blanchard: 1 goal, 2 assists, 7 draw controls
Logan Ward: 2 goals, 1 assist, 1 caused turnover, 1 draw
Spartan Goalies
Bella Garabo: 35:59 minutes played, 0 goals against, 1 save
McKenna Seashole: 24:01 minutes played, 4 goals against, 2 saves
Spartan Notes
York improves to 4-0 all-time against Widener as the Spartans have outscored the Pride 65-17 in the four contests … the Spartans' 14 wins are the most in the regular season in school history, besting the 13 earned by the 2017 and 2014 teams in the regular season … senior
Kiersten Blanchard moved into fourth place in the single-season draws control list as she now has 97, 14 behind
Nicky Clauter's 2018 season when she had 112 … Clauter's 2019 season is the season standard as she had 116 draws for the Spartans … Blanchard is now seventh on the all-time points list as she is five away from passing former Spartan great Regan Cook and six away for moving into the top five all-time … senior
Bella Garabo improved to 23-7 all-time as she was forced to make just one save in her 35:59 of shutout goaltending … Garabo now ranks fifth on the all-time wins list as she is one win out of fourth place and five wins back of third place … the Spartans have outscored their opponents 87-30 in the opening quarter and 77-24 in the second quarter … York has been outscored 41-35 in the fourth quarter for the year … York is now 6-2 away from Kinsley Field … York outshot Widener 31-12 … Widener had just seven shots on goal but scored on four of those attempts … York forced Widener in 15 turnovers while they had just eight … the eight turnovers was the second lowest total of the year, one more than the seven they had against Stevens on March 22 … York had three free-position goals, tied for their second-highest total of the year … York had a pair of player-up goals as they now have 14 this year.
Up Next
The Spartans will host the winner of the Widener/Albright play in game on Wednesday afternoon in the MAC Commonwealth semifinals. The semifinal is scheduled for a 4:00 pm first draw at Kinsley Field. The Widener/Albright Commonwealth play-in game will be held Monday in Chester, PA.
