GETTYSBURG, Pa. – The Gettysburg College women's lacrosse team erased a four-goal deficit in the first half and ended its game against No. 7 York (Pa.) College on an 8-2 run as the top-ranked Bullets remained unbeaten with a 15-10 victory over the Spartans Wednesday at Clark Field.
 
Gettysburg (6-0) avenged its final defeat from 2018 before going on to win the NCAA Division III Championship and extended its winning streak to 16 games.
 
Junior Courtney Patterson (Whitehouse Station, N.J./Hunterdon Central) scored a career-high seven points on four goals and three assists. Senior Steph Colson (Westminster, Md./Manchester Valley) tallied four goals, one assist, and seven draw controls, while sophomores Kerry McKeever (Stony Brook, N.Y./Ward Melville) and Bri Stokes (Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury Regional) each scored two goals.
 
Senior Bailey Pilder (Rowayton, Conn./New Canaan) logged nine saves and junior defender Daphne Budd (Darien, Conn./Darien) scooped three ground balls to lead the Gettysburg defense.
 
Meghan Fox shouldered the offensive load for York (5-2) with five goals and one assist, while also tracking down four draw controls. Regan Cook and Caitlin Rankin each scored twice for the Spartans and goalie Abby Smith posted nine saves.
 
York controlled the action early behind Fox, who scored four of the team's first five goals. Rankin and Fox tallied the opening two scores before Stokes put Gettysburg on the board less than five minutes into the game. Fox darted her way to the cage for three consecutive goals to give the Spartans a 5-1 lead with 11:34 left in the first half.
 
Coming out of a timeout, Pilder stonewalled Cook on a shot and the Bullets came right back down the field with Colson converting a free-position goal. The senior midfielder continued to slice her way to the goal, adding two more tallies to pull her team within one with 5:49 remaining in the period.
 
Pilder recorded two more saves in the period and Gettysburg capitalized on the defensive stops. Stokes scored on a free position shot to tie the game and after having her shot stopped by Smith, Patterson scooped up the loose ball and dished it off to junior Liza Barr (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) for a quick finish in front of the goal to give the Bullets a 6-5 lead heading into halftime.
 
York came out with three of the first four goals of the second period and took an 8-7 lead on a tally by Cook with 22:59 left. The Spartans' fourth yellow card of the game led to a non-releasable penalty and the hosts took advantage with back-to-back goals by McKeever and Patterson to regain the lead 9-8 with 20 minutes to go.
 
Patterson continued her attack with two more goals sandwiched around a score by junior Ella Orzechowski (Elkridge, Md./Howard) as Gettysburg surged in front 12-8.
 
Fox temporarily halted the momentum with her game-high fifth goal with 10:53 left, but the Bullets followed through with three more goals and two saves by Pilder over the final 8:20 to seal the victory.
 
Gettysburg finished with a 33-27 edge in shots and a 14-11 lead in ground balls. In a matchup of two of the best draw squads in Division III, the Bullets held a slight edge 14-13. Both teams were efficient with the ball with only nine turnovers apiece.
 
Gettysburg opens Centennial Conference play this Saturday against Ursinus College at Clark Field. Game time is 1 p.m.