YORK, PA – The York College men's lacrosse team opened their 2024 MAC Commonwealth schedule with a 20-4 win over Albright College on a chilly and overcast Saturday in York.
The game is just the second against an opponent that isn't ranked or receiving votes in the national poll.
The Spartans improve to 4-7 overall and 1-0 in the league. The Lions fall to 5-6 overall and 0-1 in the league.
 
How It Happened
• The Spartans got off to a slow start as they didn't find the back of the net until JD Townsend notched man-up goal 4:31 into the game. The Lions answered a little over two minutes later with a Nick Antonio goal but it would be all Spartans after that. York ripped off six goals over the final 6:18 of the opening quarter to forge a 7-1 lead after 15 minutes of play. Will Harnick scored back-to-back goals to get the run started. Blake Morton recorded his first collegiate goal at the 2:17 mark of the quarter. Davis Fisher, Vinny Facciponti and Hugo Spencer closed out the quarter with goals inside the final 1:30 of the period.
• The Lions ended the Spartan run with a Jack Burke goal 52 seconds into the second quarter. Again, the Spartans dominated the remainder of the quarter with five straight goals to push the halftime lead to 12-2. Harnick again scored two in a row to kick start the run. Michael Russo, Eric Kaplan and Jake Jackson finished off the Spartan spurt. The goal for Kaplan was his first collegiate tally.
• York dominated the first half stats as they out-shot Albright 33-11 while they won the ground ball battle 22-10. York also won 12-of-16 first half face-offs.
• The Spartans kept the beat going to start the third quarter as they ripped off three more goals to forge a 15-2 lead. Coleton Mahorney, Kaplan, and Rhys McCarver scored goals during the third quarter run. The Lions snapped the eight goal Spartan run with a tally from Justin Moroney with 6:59 left in the quarter. Freshman Jack Gulley notched his first collegiate goal with a mere eight seconds left in the third quarter as York took a 16-3 lead after 45 minutes of play.
• The Lions opened the scoring in the fourth as James Elko scored his 26^th goal of the year 3:40 into the quarter but the Green and White promptly replied with a Colby Berard goal off a pass from Sean O'Reilly. The goal was Beard's first collegiate tally. Kevin McQuade made it 18-4 with his first goal of the season with 7:38 left in the game. Freshman Antonio Santangelo scored his first career goal with 2:07 left in the game. Freshman Tommy Webster found the back of the net for his first career goal with 28 seconds left in the game for the final Spartan tally.
 
By The Numbers
The Spartans finished the game with a 71-18 bulge in shots including a 40-6 margin in shots on goal … York had a 47-18 advantage in ground balls … York forced 20 Albright turnovers while the Spartans had just 10 miscues … York was 21-of-22 on the clear while the Lions struggled and converted just 16-of-23 clears … the Spartans went 21-for-28 at the x … York was 2-for-2 on the extra man while the Lions were 0-for-3.
 
Spartan Notes
The Spartans are now 5-0 all-time against the Lions as all the games have come as MAC Commonwealth opponents … the Spartans run their MAC Commonwealth regular season win streak to 18 games dating back to the 2021 season while the Green and White has now won 23 straight against MAC Commonwealth opponents … York is now 10-2 in conference openers under head coach Brandon Childs including their last ten straight … York improves to 22-1 in MAC Commonwealth regular season action … York is now 50-3 in regular season conference play (Capital Athletic Conference and MAC Commonwealth) since 2016 … York is now 71-11 in conference regular season play under Childs dating back to the start of the 2012 season … with his second goal of the game, Will Harnick joined the 200 goal club as he now has 202 for his career … Harnick now has 255 points for his career … Harnick is now third on the all-time scoring list as he trails Tyler Hutson (2012-15) at 286 points and Thomas Pfeiffer (2016-19) with 264 points … Harnick is just the second Spartan in school history to record 200 goals as he is four goals away from tying Huston's school-record of 206 … the Spartans set a number of team season highs in the win … the 20 goals are the most they have had so far in 2024 while the 11 assists marked the first time this year that they have reached double figures in helpers … the 71 shots are a season high and ties the third highest number of shots in a single game, four short of tying the school record set in the April 16, 2021 win against Misericordia … York has reached double figures in scoring seven times this year including their last three games … the 31 total points and 40 shots on goal are also new season highs … York went 21-of-28 at the X, their second-highest win total of the year (24 vs. Gettysburg) … York is 45-for-57 at the X over the last two games … York tied a season-high with two man-up goals (2 vs. St. Lawrence) … York committed a season-low ten turnovers … York had 16 different players score led by Harnick's four tallies … Harnick has now scored in 38 straight games for the Spartans … Eric Kaplan scored his first two collegiate goals in the win … Blake Morton, Hugo Spencer, Jack Gulley, Colby Berard, Kevin McQuade, Antonio Santangelo and Tommy Webster scored their first goals of the season and the goals for Morton, Gulley, Berard, Santangelo and Webster were their first career goals … freshman goalie Liam Lord made his collegiate debut in the fourth quarter and earned his first career save ... the Spartans had four players win multiple face offs in the game as Spencer was 8-for-9, Vinny Facciponti was 6-for-8, Terence Harmon was 4-for-6 and Aidan Porter was 3-for-5.
 
Up Next
The Spartans head out on the road to take on Alvernia University in a MAC Commonwealth contest on Wednesday afternoon. First face off is scheduled for 4:00 pm in Reading.