MIDDLETOWN, CT – The York College women's lacrosse team opened their stay in the 2024 NCAA Division III Tournament with a convincing 17-3 win over Johnson & Wales (Providence) in the opening round of the tournament.
The Spartans raced out to an 8-0 lead after one quarter of play and went on to cruise from there. York has now won a school-record 11 straight games.
York improves to 14-6 overall while the Wildcats conclude their campaign with a mark of 15-5.
 
How It Happened
• The Spartans got an save and a stop in the Wildcats' first possession and proceeded to get a nice transition goal to open the scoring. Sarah Christensen carried the ball into the offensive zone where she found Zoe Kluegel on the wing. Kluegel one-timed a pass to cutting Sydney Mentzer who found the back of the net for the 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the game.
• Mentzer returned the favor less than a minute later as she found Kluegel for the goal and the 2-0 Spartan lead. York made it 3-0 on another transition goal as Christensen had another solo clear and found Jen Campbell in front of the goal for another tally.
• York's Gianna Huet made it 4-0 on a free position goal from the left wing with 9:29 left in the first quarter. The Spartans won the ensuing draw and Mentzer recorded her second goal of the day with 8:52 remaining in the period. After a Wildcat timeout, the Spartans got another turnover and another transition goal as the Spartans got a second Kluegel goal at the 6:30 mark for the 6-0 lead.
• York had a power play opportunity with 6:24 left in the quarter and York converted as Krista Yarruso fed Mentzer from the end line. Mentzer completed the play with her third goal of the game with just under six minutes left in the period. The offense kept up its first quarter onslaught as Natalie Neiman found a cutting Kluegel for her third goal of the game, pushing the lead to 8-0.
• The first quarter stats were slated heavily in favor of the Green and White as they outshot the Wildcats 12-4, had a 5-3 edge in ground balls and forced five Johnson & Wales turnovers.
• The Wildcats got on the board to open the second quarter as Maris Dibeneditto had a great individual effort in front of the crease for her 60^th goal of the year. It took the Spartans less than 60 seconds to answer as Huet notched her second goal of the game for the 9-1 Spartan lead.
• The game was scoreless over the next eight minutes before Julianna Silvernale found a cutting Campbell who finished off the chance for her second goal of the game. The Spartans tallied their 11^th goal when Yarusso made a fantastic pass to an open Kate Walsh in front of the Wildcat cage for her first goal of the game. York made it 12-1 just before the end of the half as Silvernale scored off a Huet pass for the goal.
• The Spartans kept rolling to open the third quarter as Campbell found the back of the cage twice in the first two and a half minutes of the quarter. The first goal was unassisted while the second came off a feed from Kluegel as the lead ballooned to 14-1. Huet scored her third goal of the game off a driving shot from the right side of the cage with 10:25 left in the third quarter. Silvernale closed out the third quarter scoring with a pass from Yarusso as the lead grew to 16-1.
• The Spartans opened the fourth quarter scoring with a Sofie Steel goal 2:20 into the period. The Wildcats broke a 34-minute scoreless streak as Neely Connor notched a power play opportunity with 8:17 left in the game. Dibeneditto converted a free position shot with 47 seconds left in the game to close out the scoring as York advances to the second round of the tournament.
 
By the Numbers
The Spartans out-shot the Wildcats 41-15 including 29-12 in shots on goal … York held a 12-6 margin in ground balls … Johnson & Wales made 12 saves in cage while York recorded nine stops … York was a perfect 16-for-16 in clears while the Wildcats were 11-for-16 … Johnson & Wales had 13 turnovers as the Spartans had eight caused turnovers … York had nine miscues while the Wildcats had a single caused turnover in the game … York won the battle of draw controls 15-7 … York was 1-for-3 in free position chances while Johnson & Wales was 1-for-2.
 
Spartan Notes
This is the first meeting between the two programs … the Spartans are now 14-10 all-time in the NCAA Tournament … this is the Spartans' 11^th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance … the Spartans have now made it to at least the second round in 10 of their 11 NCAA Tournament appearances … the 14-goal margin of victory was York's largest margin of victory in their 24-game NCAA Tournament history … the previous largest margin of victory came on May 12, 2019 when they bested Misericordia by nine goals in the Spartans' second round tournament win … the Spartans' 11-game win streak bests the two ten game streaks York had, most recently last spring … the Spartans' nine turnovers is their second-lowest total on the year (7 at Eastern, April 13) … the 17 goals marks the 15^th time this year that the York offense has reached double figures in goals … York tied a season-high with 11 assists in the win … York's 41 shots were the second-highest total of the year (44 vs. Widener, April 20) … the Spartans scored their 20^th power play goal of the year … the three goals allowed tied for the Spartans' second lowest total of the year (0 vs. Eastern, April 13 and 3 vs. Albright, April 6) … senior Jen Campbell recorded a career-high with four goals on just five shots in the win … Gianna Huet,  Zoe Kluegel, and Sydney Mentzer each recorded four points on three goals and one assist each … Mentzer scored her three goals on three shots while Huet and Kluegel were also efficient with four shots each … Julianna Silvernale added three points on two goals and an assist … Kate Feldman collected a career-high six draw controls while Kate Walsh had three draws to go along with a goal … goalie Bella Garabo had another big day with four saves and one goal allowed in her 35:14 of work in net … Garabo also had two caused turnovers and two ground balls … first-year Spartan goalie Audrey Simoes made five saves in her 24:46 of action in relief of Garabo … Garabo improves to 41-14 in net for her career.
 
Up Next
The Spartans advance to the second round to face #2 Wesleyan College on Sunday at 1:00 pm. The Cardinals edged York 13-11 in their only previous meeting on May 15, 2022 in the second round in York. Wesleyan comes into the game with a mark of 15-3 as they were the NESCAC runner-ups, falling to top ranked Middlebury in the conference final last weekend.