LANCASTER, Pa. – Tristan Miller buried a pass from Billy Kempner with 17 seconds left to give Franklin & Marshall a 12-11 victory over Gettysburg in Centennial Conference (CC) men's lacrosse action Wednesday evening.  

You can watch the highlights from the game by clicking here. 

The victory secures F&M at least the two-seed in the CC Playoffs and the right to host next Wednesday with the potential of securing the top spot with a win on Saturday against Dickinson.  The playoff berth is the first for the Diplomats since 2005. 

Gettysburg (8-6, 4-2 CC) jumped out to an early 2-0 edge seven minutes into the game before Tommy Wenk found Kempner with 57 seconds left in the second to make it 2-1. Robby Maddux tied the game 54 seconds later for a 3-1 score at the end of the first. 

The Bullets opened the second with two unanswered scores and went up 5-1 at 11:10. Kempner tallied an unassisted score at 10:57 before Gettysburg put two more through for a 7-2 advantage. The teams traded goals throughout the final five minutes of the first half with Gettysburg leading 9-4 at the break.  Miller scored his first two of the game for F&M (10-4, 6-1 CC) in the final volley. 

F&M dominated the third quarter with four unanswered goals. Wenk got things started with an unassisted tally at 7:47 before Kempner hooked up with Jamie McCulloch for a goal at 5:21 to make it 9-6.  John Barney struck unassisted at 3:33 and found Miller 33 seconds later to bring F&M within a goal, 9-8, with three minutes left in the third.  

A.J. Reichert found Evan Bakst three minutes into the final frame to tie the game at 9-9 and Gettysburg went back on top at 10:02 before Barney netted his second for a 10-10 game. 

Bobby DeWess put the Bullets back on top at 6:16 and Miller netted his fourth off a pass from Barney to tie the game at 11-11 with 5:22 left to play. Both teams had good looks down the stretch with the Diplomats coming away with ball after Josh Kanter forced the ball loose from DeWess. 

F&M called a timeout with 20 ticks left and Miller delivered seconds later for the win.  

Carlos Pelaez caused two turnovers and came away with four groundballs and Kanter finished with two caused turnovers. Mike Sanzone ended with six groundballs for the Diplomats. 

F&M outshot Gettysburg 41-27, caused 14 turnovers and went 17-for-17 in clear attempts. 

The Diplomats return to action on Saturday when F&M travels to Dickinson for the regular season finale.