LANCASTER, PA - Gettysburg College's Katie Lowe scored three goals, including the game-winner with 10:10 left in the second half, as the #7 ranked Bullets claimed their fourth consecutive Centennial Conference women's lacrosse championship with an 11-8 victory over #9 Franklin & Marshall College at Williamson Field.

As Centennial Conference champions, Gettysburg (15-3, 8-1 Centennial Conference) earns the Centennial Conference's automatic bid to the 2005 NCAA Division III tournament to begin on Wednesday, May 11.

Historically, Gettysburg has won the last four CC titles, has appeared in all five previous CC tournament title games and has won five of the last six CC crowns.

In the third straight title game meeting between the Diplomats and Bullets, Gettysburg rallied from a 1-0 lead to score five unanswered goals to take a 5-1 in halftime and hold on for the win.

Franklin & Marshall opened the scoring as Catherine Onnen (Fr., Lutherville, MD/St. Paul's School for Girls) picked up a ground ball on a turnover and beat Gettysburg goalie Heather Kelley with a shot which arched up and over her right shoulder at 22:32.

The Bullets answered less than three minutes later as Lowe circled the net and put a shot into the upper right corner of the net at 19:45 to tie the score.

Gettysburg continued its roll as Katie Ceglarski scored on a free position shot at 19:08, Kathy Delauney finished a feed from Ellie Shihadeh at 15:55, Lowe scored a free position goal at 7:41 and Shihadeh converted on a pass from Lowe at 3:53 for a 5-1 Bullets' lead at the break.

In the second half, Franklin & Marshall rallied as 2005 Centennial Conference Player of the Year Alexis O'Meara (Sr., Millersville, MD/Severn School) scored a free position goal at 25:47 to pull the Diplomats to within three goals. Three minutes and thirty seconds later, O'Meara fed Eileen Keever (Jr., Prospect Park, PA/Interboro) for a goal and the 106th assist of her career as O'Meara surpassed Lauren Paul '03 (105 assists) for the school record.

Keever struck again at 17:45 as Kiki Foster (Jr., Denver, CO/Kent Denver) split the Bullets' defense and dished off a pass to slice Gettysburg's lead to 5-4.

However, the Bullets added to the margin 43 seconds later as Alexandra Ewing circled the cage before putting a shot into the upper left corner of the goal for an unassisted goal. Delauney pushed the lead to three goals as she scored on a free position shot at 14:14 for a 7-4 Gettysburg lead.

Franklin & Marshall rallied as Foster fired a shot up and over Kelley's left shoulder for an unassisted goal at 13:05 and O'Meara found Keever on the crease for a the team's sixth goal to put the Diplomats within one goal of tying Gettysburg with 12:32 left on the clock.

Gettysburg added some insurance as Lowe scored the eventual game-winner at 10:10 and Quinn Dougherty converted a free position shot at 9:06 for a 9-6 lead.

The Diplomats trimmed the margin to two goals as Alexis O'Meara buried a pass from twin sister Allison O'Meara (Sr., Millersville, MD/Severn School) at 8:33, but Shihadeh fed Katie Hagan for a score at 8:09 and scored on a free position shot at 6:48 to give the Bullets a four-goal lead at 11-7.

Franklin & Marshall answered 31 seconds later as Kelly Cassels (So., Downingtown, PA/Great Valley) scored off an assist from Foster to pull to within 11-8, but Gettysburg stalled for the majority of the time left on the clock to record the upset.

In goal, Kelley made four saves on 17 Franklin & Marshall shots to improve to 15-3, while the Diplomats' Kamissa Mort (Jr., Ashton, MD/Sandy Spring) stopped 14 of the Bullets' 32 shots as she fell to 11-1 on the season.

The Bullets win marks the second time that a #1 seed has lost the CC title game since the Centennial Conference went to a postseason tournament to decide its champion in 2001. In 2002, #2 seed Gettysburg defeated #1 seed Ursinus 10-7. In the other three title tilts, the #1 seed has won the CC crown as Ursinus upended Gettysburg 11-7 in Collegeville in 2001 and the Bullets defeated Franklin & Marshall in Gettysburg 8-6 in 2003 and 14-8 in 2004.

The title game also marked the second meeting between the Diplomats and Bullets in Lancaster this year as Franklin & Marshall defeated Gettysburg 8-7 on March 30 at Williamson Field and had won eight straight CC games at home since a loss to Washington College on April 10, 2004.

Franklin & Marshall (12-3, 9-0 Centennial Conference) will now await word regarding a possible at-large berth to the NCAA championship field which will be announced on Sunday, May 8.

Score by Half 1-2 - Final
#7 Gettysburg (15-3, 8-1 CC) 5-6 - 11
#9 Franklin & Marshall (12-3, 9-0 CC) 1-7 - 8

Goals:
F&M - Eileen Keever (3), Alexis O'Meara (2), Kiki Foster (1), Kelly Cassels (1), Catherine Onnen (1)
Gettysburg - Katie Lowe (3), Ellie Shihadeh (2), Kathy Delauney (2), Katie Hagan (1), Quinn Dougherty (1), Katie Ceglarski (1), Alexandra Ewing (1)

Assists:
F&M - Alexis O'Meara (2), Kiki Foster (2), Allison O'Meara (1)
Gettysburg - Ellie Shihadeh (2), Katie Lowe (1)

Goalies: F&M - Kamissa Mort (60 minutes, 14 saves, 11 GA)
Gettysburg - Heather Kelley (60 minutes, 4 saves, 8 GA)

Shots: F&M 17, Gettysburg 32

Ground Balls: F&M 16, Gettysburg 23

Clears: F&M 12-of-13, Gettysburg 15-of-19