GRANTHAM, PA – The tenth ranked York College field hockey team made history on Saturday afternoon as they earned the program's first MAC Commonwealth conference championship courtesy of their 1-0 overtime win over #12 Messiah University.
Senior Riley Buschert scored the biggest goal of her career 5:36 into overtime to give the Spartans the historic win. York will now advance to their third straight NCAA Tournament but their first as a conference champion. Buschert was named the tournament MVP for the Spartans.
The Spartans are now 16-5 overall while the Falcons, who will likely earn an NCAA At-Large bid, are now 14-5.
 
How It Happened
• The Falcons controlled the contest early as they fired off the first four shots of the game, including a pair that Belle Fields had to make a stop on. York's best first quarter chance came in the 12^th minute of play as Tori Heiserman created an opportunity for Emma Fowler had a great look only to have Falcon goalie Joy Lippert made a lunging stop to keep the game scoreless.
• The second quarter was bereft of any offense as neither team registered a shot while the Falcons had one corner in the period.
• Fields saved the game for the Spartans in the third quarter as she registered a trio of huge saves for York. The Falcons had a penalty corner 1:41 into the second half but she stoned Teagan Murrie's shot for a save. Fields made two more saves in a two-minute stretch against Carrie Bair, keeping the Spartans in the game. The Spartans got a Libby Wild shot on goal off a penalty corner with four minutes left in the quarter as the game remained tied heading to the final quarter of regulation.
• In the first meeting between the two teams, Messiah had a huge fourth quarter. In the championship game match, the Spartans flipped the script and carried the play in the final stanza. The Spartans had a flurry of three penalty corners and four shots in a 40 second spurt. Three of the shots were saved by Lippert while the Falcons saved the fourth on a Rebekah Wiley defensive save.
• Messiah got a pair of shots with just over five minutes left in regulation but York got back-to-back penalty corners with just over three minutes remaining in regulation. The Spartans got another penalty corner a minute later as Wild got another shot on goal that was saved. This time the rebound went to Kelsey Welsh and the sophomore struck a good shot but it banged off the left post in the final opportunity of regulation.
• Messiah got the first chance of the overtime but Fields again came up huge with her final save of the game 2:07 into the extra session. Buschert put a shot on goal just over 35 seconds later as the momentum had swung the way of the Spartans.
• The game-winning play started with the Falcons putting the ball back in play in deep in their defensive third. As the Falcons tried to clear the ball, freshman Claire Burrows stepped in to intercept the pass. She flicked a pass to Olivia Miller who fired a shot towards goal but that attempt was blocked. The rebound came right to Buschert who drilled home the chance, setting off a festive celebration from the team wearing the Green and White.
• The teams finished even in total shots with 11 each while York had a 9-6 margin in shots on goal. The Falcons held a slight 8-7 edge in penalty corners. Fields was incredible for York when they needed her most with six saves in her 29^th career shutout.
 
Spartan Notes
The Spartans snapped a 12-game losing streak to Messiah and a two-game MAC Commonwealth losing streak in Grantham … the Spartans were 0-4 in their previous conference championship matches as they were 0-2 in the Capital Athletic Conference with appearances in 1996 and 2000 while they dropped their last two appearances in the MAC Commonwealth losing to Messiah 2-0 in 2022 and 1-0 in 2023 … York is now 4-3 all-time in the MAC Commonwealth tournament … the Spartans improve to 5-5 against nationally ranked squads this year … the Spartan revenge tour in the Commonwealth tournament saw York avenge both of their regular season conference losses during the league year as Stevenson had beaten York 1-0 in a shootout while the Falcons edged York 3-2 in overtime in York … the 16 wins ties the school record that was set in 2022 and tied again in 2023 … the Spartans are now 7-3 on the road this year… York has now won six straight after their loss to Messiah on October 19 … York has outscored their last six opponents 24-2 … York is now 6-5 in one-goal games … the title is the 15^th MAC championship for York College since the Spartans joined the conference in the spring of 2021 … senior Riley Buschert was named the tournament MVP while the award could have also gone to Belle Fields who was fantastic in the win … Fields earned her 47^th career win as she is now 47-16 in goal for York … Buschert put a capstone on her Commonwealth Player of the Year argument with her tenth goal of the year as she now has 30 points on ten goals and ten assists … the goal is her third game-winning goal of the year and sixth game-winner of her career … Buschert now has 25 career goals and 23 career assists for 73 points … the Spartan senior class enters the NCAA Tournament with a record of 62-21.
 
Up Next
The Spartans will find out who and where they will play in the NCAA Division III Tournament as the bracket gets revealed on Sunday night at 9:30 pm on www.ncaa.com.