Muston's healthy return to the sideline inspires York College women's lacrosse
Jen Muston had surgery to receive a new kidney in the preseason, but she's back to lead the Spartans in the NCAA Tournament.
Much like the saying that Rome wasn’t built in a day, the emergence of the York College women’s lacrosse program into a perennial NCAA Division III title contender didn’t happen overnight.
It wasn't until the fourth season under head coach Jen Muston that the Spartans made their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2012. Since then, the Spartans have been a regular in the national postseason tournament, only missing out in 2021 despite a 12-3 overall record that spring. They have reached the national quarterfinals five times, including last season.
“Making the NCAA Tournament is our standard,” said Muston, who is in midst of her 17th campaign in York. “This is where we want to be every year. It’s not a given, but it’s also not our goal just the make the NCAA Tournament. We consider it to be a standard level that we need to achieve every single year and you have to work really hard to get there.”
After escaping with a dramatic 8-7 victory in Saturday’s MAC Commonwealth championship contest against Stevenson, Muston and the Spartans are back in the NCAA draw for a third straight season. It wasn't an easy road, as York College overcame a 3-6 start against an incredibly challenging non-league schedule to win 10 straight games and return to the dance.
It also hasn't been an easy road for Muston.
After eight years of dealing with a disease in her kidneys, Muston got the call during the preseason that a suitable donor was found for a replacement.
“They’ve been looking for the past two years,” Muston said. “We were never sure at which point one was going to come up. You just can’t plan for it.”
Much like Muston has prepared her teams for nearly two decades, she had a plan in place when it was time to step away. Her three assistant coaches — Nicky Clauter, Ashley Fitzhugh and Kayleigh Phillips — took joint control of the team as it began its 2024 season.
“I warned the team that if something came up where I needed to have the surgery, that I needed to go,” Muston said. “We had everything set. My assistant coaches were ready to take over in case anything happened and, sure enough, I got a call that they found a match for me.”
The recovery timeline for this type of surgery is supposed to be several months, but Muston was back coaching, albeit in a limited capacity, just a few weeks later.
“There was no keeping me away,” she said with a smile.
Muston praised Clauter, Fitzhugh and Phillips for the way they guided the Spartans and made life a lot easier for herself and the program.
“I can’t say enough about how the team and my assistants helped and supported me throughout this,” Muston said. “They did so much and it means a lot. My assistants stepped up and took over and took control. They all changed their lives to work in our office differently than when I’m there and just hold it down. They did a whole lot more than I could have imagined.”
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York College entered MACC play 3-6 with five losses against teams ranked in the national top 10 at the time. But Muston’s eventual comeback to the sidelines provided some much-needed hope and inspiration for the Spartans. The wins came in bunches down the stretch, as the York women dominated MACC competition in the regular season and stretched their win streak to 10 in Saturday’s conference tournament final.
“We are all driven by her,” York senior Madison Kurland said of Muston. “She’s extremely inspirational dealing with everything that she’s gone through. We recognize what she’s been doing for us. She’s been sacrificing by being here every single day and at every single practice.”
It has become a tradition in recent years for the Spartans to give Muston a dousing from the water cooler after winning the conference title. Despite the cool and wet weather during Saturday’s contest at Kinsley Field, Muston wasn’t about to let the tradition be broken.
“I was ready for it,” Muston said.
It took several players to lift the cooler and make sure they didn’t drop it on their coach, but Muston provided the entertainment value that such celebrations require. After the dousing, she dropped to the ground and did several snow angels before getting up and running around with the conference championship banner.
“This means a lot,” Muston said. “All of the obstacles that we overcame and all went through, and not just mine ... this season means a lot.”
The No. 16-ranked York women learned Monday morning that they will battle Johnson and Wales (Providence) in the opening round on Saturday at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, with the winner facing No. 2-ranked Wesleyan on Sunday. The Spartans have never played JWU, and their only previous meeting with Wesleyan was a 13-11 home loss in the second round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
As for Muston’s new kidney, everything has been so good so far.
“It’s been working perfectly,” Muston said. “I’m very blessed. I have some precautions that I need to take for the rest of my life, but for now I’m very healthy. My numbers are great and they are where they were 25 years ago, so I’m very fortunate.”
