Hall of Fame
The Franklin & Marshall women's lacrosse team certainly has a well-earned reputation of national prominence even from its earliest stages. The Diplomats have numerous conference and national championships throughout the program's lifetime. With such a long and storied history, numerous all-conference, all-region, and All-America players have proudly worn the Diplomats' uniform. That sustained success makes it all the more impressive that even 35 years after her graduation, Elizabeth Eide '88 still holds the record for the most career saves.
A four-year starter as the last line of defense, Eide made 732 saves during her hall of fame career. That total broke the previous school record by over 161 saves and is still 56 saves better than her next closest peer. Although opponents constantly searched for ways to crack the Diplomats' defense, Eide was there game after game, averaging over 13 saves per contest during her four-year career – while allowing just 9.63 goals per game allowed. Stopping 60.4 percent of the shots she faced throughout her career, Eide graduated as the second-ranked goalie in school history in save percentage and still holds the fourth-best mark in program history.
Eide's individual success helped set the tone for another strong era of women's lacrosse as the Diplomats went 31-20 with her as the goalie of record. Those 31 wins set a school record that stood for nearly 10 years and was only topped once prior to the turn of the century where teams now played even more regular season contests. Being a true leader as a senior team captain, the F&M goalie is quick to credit her teammates for that success which furthered the legacy of fantastic F&M lacrosse.
"What stays in my mind is the dedication and dependability of my teammates. Time after time, I would get the ball in the crease and look down the field to clear it, and I would always see my teammates cutting toward the open spaces," explained Eide. "I could throw it to any one of them with confidence, knowing they'd get it down the field and hopefully into the opposite goal!"
To build that career resume, Eide needed to be that same dependable presence on the field for her teammates and she more than lived up to that standard. At her time of graduation, Eide held four of the top seven single-season save records at Franklin & Marshall. Her strongest statistical year came in 1987 when she made 207 saves en route to earning honorable mention all-region accolades. She would eclipse over 150 saves during each of her other three seasons and still holds three of the top 10 single-season save records. Eide stopped 66.3 percent of the shots she faced during her senior season, a mark that is still among the top five goalies all-time for the Diplomats.
As she noted that her success also took the help of her teammates, Eide will forever hold the distinction of being the first F&M goalie to lead the Diplomats to the NCAA Tournament. Franklin & Marshall had previously competed at the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) and United States Women's Lacrosse Association (USWLA) Championships. With the NCAA first sponsoring a women's lacrosse championship in 1985, it took just two seasons (1987 & 1988) before Eide and the Diplomats made back-to-back national tournaments despite the field being limited to a very prestigious group of just eight schools.
Eide's success on the lacrosse field was just a part of what made her such a tremendous asset to the College's community. Equally accomplished in the classroom, she was the recipient of the 1988Williamson medal. That honor is bestowed annually to the outstanding senior of the graduating class. Following her F&M graduation, Eide earned her PhD in geology from Stanford University. Her first professional experience came in Norway where she was a research scientist at the Geological Survey of Norway for 12 years. She returned to the United States 18 years ago to work in the Earth and Life Sciences at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington D.C. The National Academies is a non-profit, non-advocacy organization that provides scientific information and advice to policy- and decision-makers and the public.
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