LANCASTER, Pa.—No. 3 Middlebury defeated No.4 Franklin & Marshall 14-5 in non-conference women's lacrosse action Thursday afternoon. The Diplomats dropped to 7-2 while the Panthers remained unbeaten at 7-0. 

The game was the close for the first 20 minutes of action with the Panthers getting on the board first when Laurel Pascal connected on a free position 1:21 into the game. Emily Everdell made it 1-1 a few minutes later before the Panthers went up 2-1 at 21:11. Caroline Krohn tied the game at 2-2 on a free position and Middlebury scored two straight to go up 4-2.  

Casey Madden brought the Diplomats within a goal, 4-3, at 11:56, but the Panthers answered with four straight to pull away and lead 8-3 with under two to play. Laurel Pascal scored twice in the run while Bridget Instrum and Alli Sciarretta netted the other two goals for the Panthers. Grace Saliba and Gabby Frank connected at 1:06 to make it 8-4 at the break.  

Middlebury scored the first three goals of the second stanza and took a commanding 11-4 lead at 20:54. Liza Herzog scored the first goal and Sciarretta tallied the other two. Krohn scored unassisted at 19:26 before the Panthers netted the final three goals of the game to make it 14-5. 

Krohn finished with two goals with Everdell, Frank and Madden each picking up a score for F&M.

Megan Kelly came away with seven draws while Anastasia Mergner and Emily D'Erasmo caused two turnovers to pace the defense. 

Kelsey Hoffman dropped to 5-2 with six stops and Alyssa Palomba turned away six shots to pick up the win. 

F&M outshot Middlebury 25-24, took 14-of-21 draws and went 13-for-16 on clears. 

The Diplomats return to action on Saturday when F&M hosts Washington at 1:00 p.m.