York, Pa. – Six different players registered points, but Plymouth State University fell to #8 York College (Pa.), 20-5, in the second round of the NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Tournament at Kinsley Field on Sunday afternoon.
Plymouth State wraps up its season with a 16-4 record, finishing just one win shy of the program mark. York improves to 17-3 and advances to third-round play next weekend.
The Panthers hung tough with the top-ten Spartans early, as sophomore
Sammy Murphy (Harrisville, R.I.) and freshman
Gracie Menicci (Pepperell, Mass.) tallied early goals. York scored the final two goals of the first quarter to take a 5-2 lead, then pulled away by netting all six goals in the second.
Seniors
Maddie Hunt (Littleton, Mass.) and
Jenna Stowell (Londonderry, N.H.) each scored in the third quarter, while classmate
Julia Donovan (Antrim, N.H.) capped a milestone-setting career with the team's final goal late in the fourth.
Plymouth State set several individual and team milestones in this historic season, going unbeaten through the Little East Conference (LEC) regular season and earning the conference's first-ever at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Panthers secured the program's third NCAA Tournament victory with a win over Marymount University (Va.) on Saturday.
The Basics:
- Plymouth State 5, #8 York 20
- Plymouth State (16-4)
- York (17-3)
How it Happened:
- York opened a 2-0 lead before Murphy put the Panthers on the board about five minutes in.
- The teams traded goals, with Menicci scoring with 8:36 left in the quarter to make it a 3-2 game.
- York took control from there, riding a 9-0 run into the third quarter to extend its lead to 12-2.
- Hunt notched her 71st goal of the season – the third-most in program history – and Stowell added a tally midway through the frame to make it 14-4.
- The Spartans responded with six straight before Donovan capped the scoring in the final minutes with the 296th point of her career.
By the Numbers:
- Hunt finished with one goal, one assist, and one ground ball. Her 71 goals rank third-most in a single season in program history.
- Donovan closed out an outstanding career with a goal, finishing second in career goals (205) and third in career points (296).
- Stowell added a goal, one ground ball, one caused turnover, and a team-high four draw controls. She concludes the season with 165 draw controls – just one shy of her own program record – and graduates as the program's all-time leader with 471 draw controls in just three seasons.
- Senior Megan Gaspa (Laconia, N.H.) contributed three draw controls, one ground ball, and one caused turnover, finishing her career ranked third in caused turnovers (136), fourth in draw controls (256), and seventh in ground balls (170).
- Senior Margie Black (Longmeadow, Mass.) made 11 saves, graduating fourth in career saves (369), while posting the second-most wins in a season (16) and career (40).
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