Box Score

SALEM, Va. - The No. 3 Franklin & Marshall women's lacrosse team could not have picked a better time to get its first-ever win over second-ranked College of New Jersey, posting a 14-12 victory in the 2008 NCAA Semifinals hosted by Roanoke College on Saturday afternoon.

The Diplomats (19-1) advance to the Division III national championship game for the second straight season and will face No. 4 Hamilton at noon on Sunday, winners of an 11-10 decision over top-ranked Salisbury in the first semifinal. The championship game will be aired live by CBS College Sports.

Junior Sarah Meisenberg matched a season-high five goals and added two assists for seven points, while Shannon Summers scored a goal and dished out three assists to register her 200th career point to put the F&M one game away from defending its title and becoming the fourth school to win back-to-back tournaments.

Goalie Lidia Sanza recorded 11 saves, including two huge stops with under four minutes to play to preserve the win and help F&M end TCNJ's (17-2) quest for their 13th championship.

TNCJ's Karen Doane recorded five goals on the day and Katie Reuther was one of three players with two goals. Reuther also tallied two assists to finish with four points. Alison Jaeger scored two goals and grabbed a game-high five draw controls

In a battle of the two top defenses in Division III, the Diplomats were able to crack the Lions' "D" while relying on their own to hold off a persistent TCNJ team that held a 19-9 advantage in draw controls.

"It was amazing that we could win a game giving away so many possessions, which is a testament to our defense," said head Coach Anne Phillips.

F&M was faced with a 2-1 deficit early in the first half, but responded with six unanswered goals to take a 7-2 lead with 10:14 remaining in the opening stanza. The first four goals were scored over a four-minute span to force a Lions timeout, before adding to more for a five-goal advantage.

Meisenberg had a hand in four out of the first seven goals, scoring three times and handing out an assist. After being stopped on two free-position shots, she put the Diplomats on the board with a fake to the left and finished her shot to the right at the 24:04 mark.

Diane Haddeland connected with Reuther and bounced her shot past Sanza at the 23:10 mark for TCNJ's final lead of the game at 2-1.

F&M evened the score at 2-all on a catch-and-shoot combination from Summers to Blake Hargest, starting the 6-0 run. Immediately off a good clear, Jen Pritchard dished the ball to Meisenberg, who drove in for the unassisted tally with 12:25 gone in the first half.

Summers converted an 8-meter shot after getting fouled on her initial shot, before assisting Pritchard from behind the gate for a 5-2 lead. Meisenberg completed her hat trick in the first half with an solo run and then fed Blake Hargest from behind the net to give the Diplomats their largest lead at 7-2.

The Lions rallied back with four straight goals to end the first half. Doane scored consecutive goals just two minutes apart and Jaeger followed with back-to-back goals, scoring her second with just seven ticks on the clock.

The second half was a sea-saw battle, with both teams taking turns scoring but F&M staying out in front by no more than three goals at a given time.

Leigh Mitchell made it 7-all just 50 seconds into the final half, but the Diplomats worked the ball until they got the right shot on goal coming from Hargest, who cut through the middle and scored off a pass from Meisenberg to get her hat trick to put F&M back on top for good.

The next goal marked Summers' 200th point of her career when she found Sarah Veneski in front of a wide-open net for a 9-7 lead.

TCNJ never let up and got within one on three occasions thanks to three free-position goals. Ruether and Mitchell each buried an 8-meter shot to make it 11-10, but Meisenberg stepped up once again and scored two consecutive goals to break open a 13-10 lead with 10:09 remaining in the game.

Doane mimicked Meisenberg and tallied two of her own goals to shrink the Diplomats' lead to 13-12. Sanza made two stops on shots by Toni-Anne Cavallo, one coming at the 3:35 mark and another on a free-position shot after Pritchard scored to make it 14-12.

Pritchard ended with three goals, putting her one goal shy of 200 for her career. Meredith Lussier also added a goal in the win.