Box Score LANCASTER, Pa. – The No. 6 Franklin & Marshall field hockey team held off a late Dickinson charge en route to a 3-1 victory on Saturday afternoon in Centennial Conference (CC) action. The Diplomats improved to 15-1 overall and remained in control of the conference standings at 9-0, while the Red Devils fell to 12-4, 7-2 CC.
With the victory, head coach Melissa Mariano tied the school win's record with 76 in her career. The sixth-year coach is now even with Sue Kloss (1981-87) atop the standings.
Juliet Dalton got the scoring underway for F&M just three minutes into the opening half, deflecting in a Maria Guarisco shot from the top left of the circle for her second goal of the season.
Only six minutes later, the Diplomats made the score 2-0 when Guarisco sent a cross from the right side of the field to Lauren Eastman, who fired a shot from five feet out for her sixth of the year.
At the 55-minute mark in the second, Tamara Mills put the contest out of reach with the first goal of her career when the sophomore midfielder deflected a Tess Reinhold shot from the top right of the circle and into the back of the cage.
Dickinson challenged late when Alexandra Becker sent in a shot from just inside the circle to make the score 3-1 at the 67th minute, but strong defense from the Diplomats held off the charge.
F&M goalkeeper
Avery Koep (14-1) earned the victory after turning back four shots. Katy Schlechtweg (12-4) was handed the loss after stopping five of eight shots on goal.
The Diplomats led on shots at 13-9, with the Red Devils holding a 5-2 edge in the second half. Penalty corners belonged to Dickinson at 11-8.
Guarisco led the F&M offense with four shots and two assists on the day, while Katie Cecere registered three followed by Juliet Dalton and Bethany Vincent with two each.
The Diplomats return to the field next Saturday when F&M closes out the regular season with a 12:00 p.m. matchup against McDaniel at Tylus Field.
