Feb. 24, 2007

Box Score

DOWNINGTOWN, Pa. - Five different players scored multiple goals as Franklin Marshall cruised to a 19-3 season opening win over Virginia Wesleyan in women's lacrosse on Saturday. Though the game was technically the home opener for the Diplomats, it was played some 30 miles east of the Diplomats Lancaster campus in Downingtown, Pennsylvania.

After trading goals in the opening three minutes of the game, the Diplomats (1-0) laid siege on the Marlins (0-1) cage reeling off a string of ten unanswered goals, three from the stick of Shannon Summers (North Wales, PA / Hill School) who finished the game with four goals and an assist.

Jen Pritchard (Media, PA / Penncrest) also scored a pair in that span, and finished with a game-high of five goals. Freshman Blake Hargest (Cockeysville, MD / St. Paul's) added the first of her five assists in the same stretch. Her hat trick left her with eight points after her first collegiate game. Ashley Bevington (Schwenksville, PA / Hill School) also tallied a hat trick, while Amy Oliver (Westborough, MA / Westborough) netted a pair.

F&M's freshman keeper Lidia Sanza (Cockeysville, MD / St. Paul's) turned away five Marlin advances, and was in the net for all three of the Virginia Wesleyan goals. She played the first 41:49 of the contest before yielding the net to transfer Chelsea Meerbach (York, PA / York) who turned aside a pair of shots.

The Diplomats return to action next Saturday to face Rowan University. The Profs enter the season ranked 15th in the nation.