MIDDLEBURY, VT – The eighth-ranked York College women's lacrosse team outlasted #13 William Smith College 11-8 in the third round of the 2025 NCAA Division III Third Round Tournament game on Saturday in Middlebury, Vermont.

The game featured a weather delay of 3:35 as the contest didn't finish up until five and a half hours after the scheduled 2:00 pm start.

The Spartans improve to 18-3 overall as their win streak has reached 12 games. The Herons finish their season with a mark of 14-5. The 18 Spartan wins ties the school record set in 2023. 
 
How It Happened
• The two teams traded early goals as Sydney Mentzer kicked off the scoring with a free position goal only to have Katerine Murray answer exactly 30 seconds later. York took a short-lived 2-1 lead on a Katie Jeanes goal but the Herons answered with two goals to close out the quarter and take a 3-2 lead after 15 minutes of play. York's Bella Garabo made four first quarter saves for the Spartans.
• The Spartans were fantastic in the second quarter before the weather delay. Kate Feldman tied the game off a Maddie Ross assist 3:02 into the period. The Herons took their final lead of the game on a Delaney Cassidy goal 39 seconds later as William Smith led 4-3. Logan Ward tied the game on a power play goal with 9:05 left in the half. The Spartans then took the lead for good on a Ross goal from a Gianna Huet feed. Ward then recorded a player-down goal with 1:22 left in the half to give York a 6-4 lead at the break.
• The two teams then endured a lengthy weather delay as storms were all around the Middlebury campus. Once the teams restarted, the Herons took advantage of a power play with a Kayla Quirk goal 3:24 into the second half, trimming York's lead to 6-5. The Spartan offense answered with a 5-1 run over the remaining 8:39 of the third quarter to take an 11-6 lead. Zoe Kluegel, Ward, Ross, Mentzer and Krista Yarusso scored for the Spartans. Garabo was a key to the offensive run with four big saves to keep the William Smith offense at bay while the York offense was getting the job done.
• The Spartans got a little sloppy in the fourth quarter as they had six turnovers and were only able to squeeze off three shots in the final 15 minutes of play. The Herons got goals from Quirk and Taryn Luzi to cut the Spartan lead to three but that's as close as they would get as Garabo made another four saves.
 
By The Numbers
The Spartans finished the game out-shooting the Herons 28-26 while William Smith held a slight 23-20 edge in shots on goal … York was uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball as they committed 18 turnovers to just 12 for William Smith … York was 22-for-26 on the clear while the Herons were 14-for-15 … York won the battle of the ground balls 18-15 … York was credited with six caused turnovers while William Smith had 13 … William Smith was very good at the dot as they went 14-for-22 in the draw circle … the Herons were 3-for-8 in free position shots while York was just 1-for-6 … Katherine Murray, Delaney Cassidy and Kayla Quirk led the Herons with two goals each … Kira Fulton and Taryn Luzi also scored for Herons … Lily Kuhn led William Smith with three ground balls and a caused turnover … Nikki Pio led William Smith with three caused turnovers and one ground ball … goalie Maura Smeader recorded ten saves as she allowed all 11 Spartan goals in her 60 minutes of work … Kate Colvin had 10 draw controls for WSC.
 
Spartan Notes
The Spartans are now 2-1 against William Smith all-time … York won the first meeting 13-5 back on March 7, 2020, a week before the season was shut down due to COVID … the Herons won last year's regular season meeting 11-10 in overtime in New York … this is the first post-season meeting between the two teams … York is now 3-3 against nationally ranked teams this season … York is now 16-11 all-time in the NCAA Tournament … the game against William Smith marks the 20^th different team York has faced off against in the NCAA Tournament … York advances to the National Quarterfinals for the sixth time in school history …. York faced Middlebury in the national quarterfinals in 2018 when the Panthers edged the Spartans 11-10 … York previously faced Middleburg in the quarterfinals in 2015 when the Panthers won 10-8 in Gettysburg … York has won at least two games in six of their 12 NCAA Tournament appearances … the Spartans reached double figures in goals for the 20^th time this year … York had assists on seven of their 11 goals … grad goalie Bella Garabo was outstanding as she set an NCAA Tournament career-high with 15 saves in the win … the 15 saves were also a season-high and a Spartan school record in NCAA play, breaking Charlotte Wright's previous record of 14 … Wright's 14 saves came in a 5-4 win over St. John Fisher on May 14, 2017 … she has eight double-digit save games for the year and 23 for her career … Garabo's previous NCAA high was 13 against Wesleyan (Conn.) in 2022 … Garabo also had 11 ground balls in the win … Garabo is now 59-18 in net in her Spartan career … grad attack Logan Ward led the Spartans with five points on three goals and two assists … Krista Yarusso, and Gianna Huet each added three points with a goal and two assists each … Maddie Ross added two goals to go along with two caused turnovers and three draw controls … Huet had three assists as she now has 94 career assists, second on the all-time career list … Sydney Menter added two goals, two ground balls, two caused turnovers and a draw control … Leah Vacin had four draw controls for the Spartans.
 
Up Next
The Spartans will now face off against host Middlebury for the right to go to next weekend's Division III Final Four in Salem, Virginia. Game time on Sunday is set for 3:30 pm. The Panthers are ranked second in the most recent IWLCA Coaches Poll. Middlebury advanced to Sunday's game after drubbing the University of Chicago 23-6 in Saturday's opener.