April 22, 2006

LANCASTER, PA - Swarthmore College goalie Frank Mazzucco made 17 saves on 36 Franklin & Marshall College shots as the Garnet Tide stunned the Diplomats 7-5 in Centennial Conference men's lacrosse action at Sponaugle-Williamson Field.

The win marks the first by the Garnet (4-8, 1-5 Centennial Conference) over the Diplomats (5-7, 1-5 Centennial Conference) since an 11-6 victory in Swarthmore on March 17,1984 as Swarthmore finished the 1984 season ranked #9 in the final national poll. Further, the win improves Swarthmore to 13-35 all-time against Franklin & Marshall in men's lacrosse.

Swarthmore opened the scoring with 2:22 left in the first quarter as Gavin Nurick scored off an assist from Stelios Wilson for a 1-0 lead, but F&M countered as midfielder Kevin Kohl (Jr., Manasquan, NJ/Loomis Chaffee) netted an unassisted goal at 1:07 to knot the score.

Kohl struck again midway through the second quarter as he beat his defender and tallied a goal off an assist from Peter Moon (So., Durham, NC/Durham) at the 8:10 mark to give the Diplomats a 2-1 advantage.

The Garnet Tide rolled out to a 3-2 lead prior to the break as Jay Charles scored unassisted at 6:00 and Alex Hahn finished a pass from Wilson with 25 seconds left in the quarter to enter the break with a one-goal margin.

Swarthmore pushed the lead out to three goals in the opening five minutes of the second half as Ryan McKenna fed a pass to Hahn for a goal at 11:51 and Todd Friedman scored unassisted at 10:57 of the third quarter.

Franklin & Marshall trimmed the lead back to two goals prior to the end of the quarter as attackman Mark Hild (Fr., Denver, CO/Denver East) scored unassisted at the 2:06 mark to pull the Diplomats to within 5-3 with a quarter to play.

However, the Garnet pushed the lead back to three goals as Matt Perez tallied the eventual game-winner off an assist from Wilson at the 14:14 mark for a 6-3 lead. The teams traded goals from there as Hild scored at 6:22, Wilson tallied the Garnet's seventh goal at 5:32 and Kohl completed a hat trick with a goal at 4:52 off an assist from Brett Leppert (Fr., Baltimore, MD/John Carroll) for the 7-5 final score.

Statistically, the game was all F&M as the Diplomats held advantages in shots (36-to-20), ground balls (38-to-29) and face-offs (11-of-16 to five-of-16), while the Garnet held advantages in saves (17-to-9), clears (20-of-27 to 18-of-21) and extra man opportunities (0-for-3 to 0-for-1).

In goal, Tim Kjeldgaard (So., Yarmouth, ME/Hyde) took the loss with nine saves, including five in the second half.

Franklin & Marshall (5-7, 1-5 Centennial Conference) will continue the season on April 26 in Centennial Conference action at McDaniel College. Game time is set for 4:00 p.m.

SCORE BY PERIODS Swarthmore (4-8, 1-5 CC) 1-2-2-2-- 7 Franklin & Marshall (5-5, 1-3 CC) 1-1-1-2 - 5

Goals: F&M - Kevin Kohl (3), Mark Hild (2) Swarthmore - Alex Hahn (2), Stelios Wilson (1), Todd Friedman (1), Matt Perez (1), Jay Charles (1), Gavin Nurick (1)

Assists: F&M - Brett Leppert (1), Peter Moon (1) Swarthmore - Stelios Wilson (3), Ryan McKenna (1)

Goalie (Saves/Goals Allowed/Minutes) F&M - Tim Kjeldgaard (9/7/60) Swarthmore - Frank Mazzucco (17/5/60)

Shots - F&M 36, Swarthmore 20

Face-Offs - F&M 11-of-16, Swarthmore 5-of-16

Extra man - F&M 0-for-1, Swarthmore 0-for-3

Clears - F&M 18-of-21, Swarthmore 20-of-27

Attendance - 112