April 29, 2006

GETTYSBURG, PA - Attacker Kiki Foster (Sr., Denver, CO/Kent Denver) scored three goals and handed out four assists to lead the second-seed #8 Franklin & Marshall College women's lacrosse team back from a 7-1 first half deficit as the Diplomats rallied to knock off third-seed #14 Dickinson College 15-12 in the Centennial Conference semifinals hosted by Gettysburg College.

The win sets up a showdown with #1 seed and #1 nationally ranked Gettysburg College (17-0, 9-0 Centennial Conference), a 19-9 victor over fourth-seed Ursinus College (12-6, 6-3 Centennial Conference) in the earlier semifinal game, on April 30 at 1:00 p.m. at Gettysburg for the 2006 Centennial Conference title and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA national championship playoffs.

Leading 1-0 following a goal by Foster off an assist from Kelly Cassels (Jr., Downingtown, PA/Great Valley) 21 seconds into the game, the Diplomats (13-3, 8-1 Centennial Conference) saw their lead dwindle to a 7-1 deficit over the next 13 minutes as the Red Devils (12-4, 6-3 Centennial Conference) tallied seven unanswered goals.

Tara Goss started the run for the Devils as she scored on a free position shot at 26:20 to tie the game and added an unassisted goal at 25:35 to put Dickinson ahead. Katie Austin pushed the lead out to three goals as she registered a pair of unassisted goals at 23:08 and 22:42 before Goss chipped in a pair of unassisted goals at 19:47 and 18:18 to give the Red Devils a 6-1 lead. Lizzie Skolnick made the lead six goals at 7-1 as she finished a pass from Laura Williams at 16:27, as Dickinson appeared primed to run away with the game and advance to the title game.

Franklin & Marshall went to work on the lead behind the play of Cassels and Jen Pritchard (Fr., Media, PA/Penncrest) to score eight goals in eight minutes for a 9-7 lead with 5:11 left in the first half.

Cassels ignited the Diplomats as she beat her defender and fired a pass from Eileen Keever (Sr., Prospect Park, PA/Interboro) past Dickinson goalie Gabby Joffie at the 13:27 mark. Pritchard cut the lead to 7-4 as she scored off an assist from Cassels at 12:12 and buried a feed from Sarah Meisenberg (Fr., Severna Park, MD/Severn) at 9:21.

Following an unassisted goal by Meisenberg with eight minutes left in the half, Cassels scored a free position goal at 7:06, Pritchard found Shannon Summers (Fr., North Wales, PA/The Hill School) for a goal at 6:40, Foster netted an unassisted goal at 5:30 for an 8-7 lead and fed a pass to Keever for a score at 5:11 for an insurance goal.

Williams pulled the Red Devils back to within a goal at 9-8 prior to halftime as she scored courtesy an assist from Jena Boccetti with 4:13 left in the 30-minute half.

Dickinson carried the momentum into the second half as Lizzie Cone scored unassisted at 26:41 to tie the game and Williams tacked on an unassisted goal at 26:16 to put the Red Devils ahead 10-9.

F&M tied the game less than five minutes later as Pritchard finished a pass from Keever at the 21:20 mark, but Dickinson countered as Katie Austin tallied an unassisted goal at 19:14 to give the Red Devils an 11-10 lead.

Cassels tied the score exactly two minutes later on a free position goal at 17:14 for an 11-11 draw to set up a dramatic finish to the game.

Foster took control of the final 17 minutes of play as she handed out assists to Prichard at 10:02 and 8:24, found Cassels for a goal at 7:42 and scored a pass from Sloan Giampa (Jr., Cortlandt Manor, NY/Yorktown) at the 6:27 mark for a 15-11 lead, while helping anchor an F&M defensive unit which kept the Red Devils off the scoreboard until Austin netted a free position goal at the 1:19 mark.

Historically, Foster's seven point performance raised her career statistics to 146 goals and 53 assists for 199 points as she surpassed former Diplomat and current Dickinson assistant coach Lauren Paul '03 for sixth in career goals, moved into a three-way tie for 12th in assists and tied Kara Silberg '98 for seventh in points in school history.

In goal, Kamissa Mort (Sr., Ashton, MD/Sandy Spring) picked up the win making six saves on 26 Dickinson shots, while Joffie took the loss making 11 saves on 36 F&M shots.

Goss and Austin led Dickinson with four goals apiece, while Williams added two goals and an assist to pace the Red Devils attack.

For the Diplomats, Pritchard finished with five goals and an assist, while Cassels added four goals and two assists, Keever chipped in a goal and two assists, Meisenberg tallied a goal and an assist to lead the Diplomats back to the title game versus Gettysburg for the fourth consecutive year.

F&M, which is making its sixth straight appearance in the CC postseason, will look to knock off Gettysburg and "break the streak" as the Diplomats have fallen to Gettysburg in the last three Centennial Conference title games, including an 11-8 loss at home on Sponaugle-Williamson Field on May 1 last year.

Historically, Franklin & Marshall will look to become the fourth school in Conference history to win a CC title as Gettysburg won the 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 crowns, while Ursinus is the only other current CC program to have won a conference championship, capturing crowns in 1996, 1999 and 2001. Johns Hopkins won four of the first five CC titles before moving to Division I after the 1998 season.

Further, the Diplomats will look to snap a seven year stretch since their last conference crown as Franklin & Marshall is seeking its first conference championship since 1993 as the Diplomats won the 1980, 1982, 1983, 1989, 1991 and 1993 Middle Atlantic Conference titles.

Against Gettysburg in the Centennial Conference playoffs, Franklin & Marshall is 0-4 as the Diplomats dropped the 2003 (8-6 L) and 2004 (14-8 L) title games in Gettysburg and lost 11-8 in the 2005 title tilt in Lancaster. Further, F&M fell 12-6 to Gettysburg in the 2001 semifinals hosted by Ursinus College.

The title game matchup between F&M and Gettysburg will be a rematch of arguably one of the best Division III women's lacrosse games this year as the Bullets won the regular season contest on April 5 at the historic battlefield in the ninth minute of overtime on a goal by senior attacker Ellie Shihadeh for an 8-7 Bullets victory.

Fans unable to make the championship game can listen to the broadcast courtesy the Centennial Conference Broadcast Network that will air the game online beginning at 12:50 p.m. The broadcast can be accessed at http://www.teamline.cc/teampages.html?teamcode=1979.

Score by Half 1-2 - Final #14 Dickinson (12-4, 6-3 CC) 8-4 - 12 #8 Franklin & Marshall (13-3, 8-1 CC) 9-6 - 15

Goals: Franklin & Marshall: Jen Pritchard (5), Kelly Cassels (4), Kiki Foster (3), Eileen Keever (1), Sarah Meisenberg (1), Shannon Summers (1) Dickinson: Tara Goss (4), Katie Austin (4), Laura Williams (2), Lizzie Cone (1), Lizzie Skolnik (1)

Assists: Franklin & Marshall: Kiki Foster (4), Kelly Cassels (2), Eileen Keever (2), Sloan Giampa (1), Sarah Meisenberg (1), Jen Pritchard (1) Dickinson: Jena Boccetti (1), Laura Williams (1)

Shots: F&M 36, Dickinson 26

Goalies: F&M - Kamissa Mort - 60:00, 6 saves, 12 GA Dickinson - Gabby Joffie - 60:00, 11 saves, 15 GA

Draw Controls: F&M 17-for-29, Dickinson 12-for-29

Free Position: F&M 2-for-6, Dickinson 2-for-4

Fouls: F&M 17, Dickinson 19

Ground Balls: F&M 15, Dickinson 13

Turnovers: F&M 12, Dickinson 13