Sarah Castle's third goal of the game, with 2:23 left in the second half, lifted 12th-ranked York to an 8-7 victory over 5th-ranked Gettysburg Saturday in the NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Tournament, sending the Spartans to the national quarterfinals for the first time in the team's 10-year history.

York advances to Sunday's Elite 8 round at Gettysburg, where the 15-5 Spartans will challenge the winner of Saturday's Hamilton vs. Middlebury game.  Sunday's game begins at 2:30 p.m.

The Spartans, who dropped a 15-9 decision to Gettysburg during the regular season, took a 2-1 lead on Castle's first goal, off a free position shot, five minutes into the game.  The host Bullets (16-4) then scored three consecutive goals, taking  a 4-2 lead midway through the period.  It was the only time in the game either team led by two goals.

YCP bounced back with a pair of Melissa Meehling unassisted scores to close out the first half with the game tied at 4-4.

The teams traded goals two goals each in the first six minutes of the second half before YCP finally regained the lead at 7-6 on a Jayme Verman goal with 19:11 left in the second half.

After York had several long possessions in the offensive end, the Bullets were able to get the equalizer with 4:31 left on Abby Baigelman's fourth score of the contest.  Two minutes later, Castle's hat trick goal lifted the Spartans to an 8-7 lead.   

Gettysburg scored what appeared to be the game-tying goal with 6.7 seconds left in regulation, but after a lengthy discussion among the officials and coaches, a stick violation erased the goal and gave the Spartans possession of the ball at midfield, where they ran out the clock and advanced to Sunday's regional title match.

The long possessions in the second half helped York outshoot the Bullets, 23-15.  YCP keeper Rachel Donovan was credited with four saves.