By Jack Fennell

ANOTHER year of York college field hockey has officially begun with a home opener shutout Thursday against St. Mary’s 2-0.

It was a defensive battle, with Kat Knox starting the scoring in the third quarter and Maggie Spadorfa putting on the finishing touches by scoring late in the fourth quarter and sealing a Spartan victory.

It was a perfect way to begin a season where the Spartans are among the MAC Commonwealth favorites. The Spartans are picked to finish second in the MAC Commonwealth Preseason Coaches Poll behind defending champion Messiah. The Falcons got all eight first-place votes for 64 total points. York is second with 54 points while Widener is third with 51 points.

The Spartans last year finished with a 14-5 record but unfortunately lost in a heart-breaker in overtime to No. 3 Widener. The Spartans do however have a great chance to redeem themselves this season. With returning All-MAC players such as Hannah Huffman, Sara Pique, (Huffman and Pique were both All-Region players as well) Maggie Spadorfa and Riley Buschert, there is good reason to be optimistic.

They also have nine starters returning this season, including goalie Kaitlyn Wallace, who last season had 50 saves, a 1.73 goals-against average, a 14-5 record and three shutouts.

There are some key matches to highlight for the Spartans’ 18-match regular season as they play Messiah, the defending champs, on Oct. 12 and then get a rematch against Widener on the road three days later.

The season features a five-game September road trip including visits to nationally ranked Johns Hopkins and Franklin and Marshall. The Spartans have five non-conference matches to kick off the year before opening MAC Commonwealth play on Sept. 17 at Lebanon Valley.

The regular season will conclude on Oct. 29 at FDU-Florham followed by the MAC Commonwealth tournament that is scheduled to begin on Oct. 31.

York College’s next game was a trip to Wilkes on Saturday. The game was set to start at 1 p.m.

Jack Fennell is a freshman majoring in Sport Media.