College roundup: Muston reaches 200 wins for York College women's lacrosse

York College women’s lacrosse began Saturday by honoring seven seniors. The Spartans finished by celebrating head coach Jen Muston’s 200th career victory.

The result was never in doubt, as No. 9-ranked York throttled winless Eastern University by a 22-2 margin. But the lopsided nature of the win left plenty of time for reflection on an impressive decade and a half of success.

Muston took over a new program in advance of the 2008 season; the Spartans began play in 2006 and had a pair of losing campaigns to begin their history. Muston — then known as Jen Dragoni — led York to an 11-6 mark in her first year. She led the Spartans to their first NCAA Tournament in 2012, beginning a run of eight straight appearances. York added a ninth berth last year.

Saturday’s victory brought Muston’s career record to 200-82, and this year’s group improved to 10-3 overall and 4-0 in the MAC Commonwealth. The senior class of Mia Alvarez, Kiersten Blanchard, Emmy Bryden, Sarah Christensen, Bella Garabo, Anya Litofsky and Christina Vendelis is 41-13 in four seasons, including the incomplete 2020 campaign.

Garabo, the Spartan goalie, was named MACC Defensive Player of the Week for the fourth straight week after saving two-thirds of the shots she faced in victories over Alvernia and Eastern, holding both opponents to just two goals. Five of the other six seniors found the back of the net Saturday.

While players are limited to four years of eligibility (five in the short-term wake of the pandemic), coaches can give programs a continuous identity from one era to the next. That’s what Muston and assistant coach Ashley Fitzhugh have done at York College, as the pair has been on the sideline for 200 of the team’s 213 wins all-time and every one of its postseason games.

In its nine NCAA Tournaments, York College has reached the quarterfinals four times but never advanced to the D-III Final Four. The Spartans have been on the wrong end of several heartbreakers — three elimination losses have come by a single goal and two more by a pair — but with a strong finish to this season, they can put themselves in position for another deep run.

And with Muston in charge, York appears poised for many more runs in the future.

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MORE SPARTAN NOTES

Men’s lacrosse also earned a pair of weekly honors after earning MACC victories over Alvernia (19-1 on Wednesday) and at Eastern (15-11 on Saturday). Senior attackman Will Harnick scored six goals in the weekend road win, bringing his total to 50 this season, while goalie Jack Keller made 17 saves in that contest and had a .621 save percentage for the week. Eastern was unbeaten in the league entering Saturday, but York (8-5, 4-0) now shares first place with Stevenson. The Spartans visit Albright and host Lebanon Valley this Wednesday and Saturday.

In track and field, Julia Pena continued her brilliant senior campaign with another conference weekly honor after placing third in the pole vault at Bucknell’s Bison Classic, which included mostly Division I athletes. Pena cleared 3.80 meters — her PR is a 3.81 indoors — and added a top-10 finish in the 100m hurdles for good measure. The senior won seven weekly conference honors during the indoor campaign before adding this one.

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York College baseball earned a 5-4 win over No. 18 Rowan on Tuesday, improving to 17-14 overall this season. The Spartans also captured a MACC series win over the weekend, taking two of three from Hood to improve to 12-6 in the league.

Spartan softball dropped a pair of home contests against No. 1 Salisbury on Sunday, giving the Sea Gulls a push in a 4-2 defeat before falling 8-0 in six innings. York College did earn a key sweep of Hood on Friday (5-2, 6-0) after splitting with Alvernia on Thursday. Add it up and the Spartans are 12-16 overall and 5-3 in the MACC entering Wednesday’s twin bill at Stevenson.

The men’s and women’s tennis teams both added to the win column with Saturday victories at Alvernia. The men cruised to an 8-1 triumph and the women won 6-3. York’s women improved to 10-5 (5-1) with a 9-0 win over Stevenson on Tuesday afternoon, while the men (6-8, 3-2) host the Mustangs on Wednesday.

And the women’s golf team continued its winning ways by capturing the Spartan Spring Invitational at Regents’ Glen Country Club in York for the third consecutive year. York College’s team score of 650 narrowly edged out Lynchburg for the team title, while Natalie Robson tied for second individually in her final home event.

LIONS’ LOUD BATS

Penn State York baseball is on a roll in the PSUAC, improving to 10-2 in the East division and 14-8 overall by taking three of four games against Penn State Hazleton over the weekend. The Lions can win the division title for the first time in program history with a split or better this Friday and Saturday against Penn State Brandywine.

The Lions have been led by a slew of local underclassmen. Freshman catcher Andrew Miller (Susquehannock) leads the team with a .464 average, .569 on-base percentage and .661 slugging percentage, while sophomore Ryan Schubert (Kennard-Dale) has five of the Lions’ eight home runs and a team-high 24 RBIs. Another former Ram, Jason Williams, leads PSY with a 1.20 ERA in 30 innings pitched.

The Lions will follow this weekend’s four-game set with a single makeup game next Tuesday against Penn State Wilkes-Barre. The PSUAC tournament begins next weekend.

BEACH BALLERS

Just over a year after capturing a state volleyball championship with Spring Grove, twin sisters Hailey and Neveah Wolfe are small-college national champions with University of Tampa beach volleyball.

The freshmen helped the Spartans capture the AVCA Division II national title over the weekend, beating a tandem from Colorado Mesa in the No. 3 pairing at Hickory Point Beach in Tavares, Florida. The twins finished 17-12 as a doubles team this season. 

Tampa went 21-13 overall this season, with plenty of its competition coming against NCAA-sanctioned teams. The Spartans have dominated their level in the postseason, winning national titles in 2019, 2021 and 2023. No tournament was held in 2020, and Colorado Mesa won last year. Now a pair of Rockets have helped their team shoot back to the top.