March 18, 2008

Box Score

WEST PALM BEACH, Fl. - Sarah Meisenberg and Ashley Bevington each scored four goals, including two in each half, to lead top-ranked Franklin & Marshall over 16th-ranked Wesleyan 17-9 in non-conference women's lacrosse action on Monday night. The win was F&M's 25th consecutive victory.

With the game tied at 5-all, the Diplomats (4-0) reeled off five straight goals to end the first half and take the lead for good over the Cardinals (2-2).

Blake Hargest handed out five assists and Jen Pritchard turned in a hat trick for F&M.

Weslyan's Jess Chukwu scored three times and Rachel Stemerman made 10 stops in the loss.

It didn't take long for the Cardinals to get on the board first, taking a 1-0 lead just 21 seconds after the opening whistle thanks to a goal from Allie Lynch.

Laura Ruppersberger converted a free-position shot and Shannon Summers finished a feed from Hargest to give the Diplomats a 2-1 lead at the 23:45 mark.

At the 16:46 mark, Sarah Orkin scored her 11th goal tying the game for the first out of three times in the first half.

F&M scored two goals in 41 seconds for a 5-3 edge, but Chukwu came back with two of her own to make it 5-all. From there, the Diplomats tallied eight consecutive goals including three to start the second half for a 13-5 lead. Meisenberg recorded three goals and Hargest gave out four assists during that stretch.

The Cardinals got within six goals on two occasions, but would not get any closer in the final 15 minutes of the game.

Summers scored on an 8-meter shot and then assisted Hargest for the last two goals of the game and a 17-9 margin.

Lidia Sanza stopped eight out of 19 shots for her fourth win in the cage. In addition to her four goals, Meisenberg also won five draw controls and caused two turnovers.

F&M plays its final spring-break contest on Wednesday against Hamilton. Game time is 5 p.m.