York College soccer coach Mark Ludwig has changed some of his coaching philosophies.

After bowing out early in the conference and NCAA tournaments last season, Ludwig said he has adjusted his team's training to build for the postseason and ensure the Spartans (14-1-4, 7-0-2 CAC) play their best soccer during the playoffs.

Ludwig's club accomplished their first goal for the postseason by knocking off No. 3-seed Mary Washington, 4-1, in the Capital Athletic Conference semifinal Tuesday afternoon.

The No. 2 seed Spartans will host fourth-seeded Stevenson in the CAC championship game Saturday afternoon at a time to be determined. Stevenson knocked off top-seed Salisbury, 1-0, Tuesday. York defeated Stevenson, 2-1, earlier this season.

"One thing we've been trying to do is keep a lot of players actively involved throughout the year," Ludwig said. "I'm not sure as a coaching staff that we've peaked yet. We're still trying to figure things out and still trying to make adjustments.

"And to the players' credit we have a lot more depth and players are stepping up."

Less than 10 minutes into the game Jon Ports gave the Spartans the early advantage.

Ports streaked down the right side of the box and controlled a Kemal Nuspahic pass at the 6-yard line. Without a moment's hesitation, Ports unleashed a rifle past the Mary Washington keeper Emmett Rutkowski into the right corner of the net.

Freshman Antonio Bua's goal less than 10 minutes later gave York a 2-0

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halftime lead. The Spartans dominated the first half without allowing an Eagle shot. Ports said it was one of the best halves of soccer York has played this season, adding the team has grown since August.

"We've had a lot of ties and a loss but those things keep you humble," he said. "We definitely haven't peaked yet. We're in the process of doing it right now, which is really good. Last year we peaked too early, hopefully we take it a day at a time and accomplish what we want to."

After controlling the first half, the Spartans appeared sluggish out of the break. A Mary Washington penalty kick less than eight minutes into the second frame pulled the Eagles within one.

But York responded by holding Mary Washington (12-7-1, 6-2-1) without a scoring opportunity the rest of the way. The Spartan offense also picked up by scoring a pair of late goals a little more than 10 minutes apart to seal the win.

Ludwig said York's push to "crush and deflate" Mary Washington with the third and fourth goals was a result of his team's newfound resiliency.

After everything went right during last year's 18-0 regular season, the untested Spartans were caught looking toward a deep postseason run but instead were sent home early.

But Ludwig said he's adjusted his team's goals and the way they train. He said he feels the Spartans are building as a team and are better suited to make national noise.

"A lot of times we were just looking to the postseason and the NCAA tournament, and this year I haven't even talked about it yet with them," Ludwig said. "Right now the focus was to get to the CAC final and now it's to win the CAC final. We want to enjoy every step of the journey, and I think we've done a good job of that.

"My whole goal has been to them if we lose it's to a better team and there's not a lot of teams out there that have the talent that we do."