Box Score

LANCASTER, Pa. – Sarah Clemmens free position goal was the difference as #1 Salisbury squeaked out a 10-9 win at #3 Franklin & Marshall on Sunday. The Sea Gulls (10-1) victory marks the first time the Diplomats (8-1) have dropped at home in 35 games.

The last Diplomat loss in Lancaster came on May 1, 2005, an 11-8 defeat by Gettysburg in the Centennial Conference championship final. 

Clemmens netted the game-winner with 8:19 left to play as Salisbury cashed in from eight meters for the fourth time in the contest. The Gulls took seven free position shots in the game. Beth Rhodey scored twice on the free position, including the Sea Gulls first marker at 25:29.

Rhodey's FPS goal countered an F&M opening salvo that started 42 second in on a Meredith Lussier quick stick set up by Blake Hargest. Hargest ticked off the 99th assist of her career on the play. Less than three minutes later, Jen Pritchard completed a bang-bang play from Shannon Summers to make it 2-0.

F&M then struggled with the draw, resulting in several long Salisbury possessions and a 7-1 run on the F&M net. 34 seconds after getting the Gulls on the board, Rhodey knotted it at 2-2 with an unassisted goal. Lussier responded with the second of her four on the day to briefly reclaim the lead for the Diplomats, 3-2, before Salisbury ripped off five-straight with five different goal scorers.

Pritchard stopped the bleeding, quick-sticking a deflected Sarah Meisenberg shot into the top right corner of the cage at 8:45 to end a 14:15 Diplomats' drought. Lussier scored her second free position goal of the game shortly thereafter to make it 7-5.

The game changed for F&M less than two minutes later. Pritchard made an acrobatic effort to bang home a one-time pass from Hargest that would have made it 7-6 had it counted. It didn't. Pritchard was issued her second yellow card of the afternoon on a dangerous follow through, removing her from the game with 35:07 left in the contest. Undaunted, the Diplomats pressed on, getting within a goal when Lussier dropped in her fourth of the day with 3:22 in the first half.

The Diplomats had several scoring opportunities late in the half, including a shot from Cat Serpe that caught the right iron. F&M got pipe three times in the game. Serpe made up for it with a goal 24 seconds into the second half to draw the teams even at 7-7. 3:03 later, Summers gave F&M its first lead in over 26 minutes with an unassisted goal at the 26:33 mark.

Salisbury's Robyn Bishop tied it again on a free position goal, which was quickly answered by F&M first-year, Lauren Ehrhardt, off of a Summers feed. Ashleigh Gender netted her second of the game to make it 9-9 with 14:22 to play, setting up Clemmens' heroics on the FPS with 8:19.
Salisbury possessed for most of the remaining time on the clock, including one possession that stretched for the better part of four minutes.

The Diplomats out shot Salisbury 28-20 in the game. Sonja Stuart turned away 11 shots for the Gulls, including six second-half stops. Lidia Sanza made six saves for F&M.

F&M was playing its fourth game this week, and sixth in 11 days. The Diplomats will get two days of rest before returning to action on Wednesday against Swarthmore.