Field Hockey To Battle For CC Title

LANCASTER, Pa. - The Franklin & Marshall field hockey team will travel to Gettysburg in the first round of the Centennial Conference (CC) championships on Wednesday.

The fifth-seeded Diplomats (11-6, 6-4 CC) will battle the No. 4 Bullets (11-6, 7-3 CC) in a first-round playoff game at 3 p.m. The winner advances to Saturday's semifinal at top-seeded Ursinus and will take on the sixth-ranked Bears (16-2, 9-1 CC) at 11 a.m. The second semifinal pits No. 2 and seventh-ranked Johns Hopkins (13-4, 9-1 CC) against third-seeded Muhlenberg (12-6, 7-3 CC) at 1:30 p.m.

The winners of the semifinals will meet in the championship, slated for Sunday at 1 p.m.

The tournament's champion will earn the CC's automatic bid to the 2007 NCAA Division III tournament. The field will be announced late Sunday.

The Diplomats are making their fifth appearance in the conference playoffs and are seeking their first CC title. In the regular-season meeting with F&M and Gettysburg, the Bullets posted a 5-1 victory over the Diplomats on Sept. 26.

Pamela Cassidy leads the team with 12 goals and seven assists for 31 points, while freshman Eileen O'Reilly has tallied eight goals and 10 assists for F&M.