Box Score LANCASTER, Pa. – No. 19 Franklin & Marshall was edged out by Dickinson 8-7 in Centennial Conference (CC) men's lacrosse action Saturday afternoon in the Diplomats regular season finale. F&M (12-3, 6-2 CC) is now the #3 seed and will meet the Red Devils (9-6, 6-2 CC) again on Wednesday in CC playoff action.
Before the game, Carlos Pelaez, Jamie McCulloch, Cameron Setian, Billy Kempner, Josh Kanter, James Lamb, Nils Hansen, Jordan McLean, Joe Bowen, Jeff Newton, and Evan Bakst were honored on senior day.
The first half was tight throughout as neither team took more than a two-goal advantage. Dickinson jumped out to a 2-0 lead after Tyler Llewellyn scored at 14:06 and Tyler White found the back of the net at 10:01. Later in the first, Billy Kempner got F&M on the scoreboard when he netted his 19th goal of the season at 3:20. Two minutes later, Michael Bossidy notched his 12th goal of the year at 1:09 to tie the contest at 2-2.
After Dickinson's Chase Phillips and Bossidy exchanged goals to make the score 3-3, the Diplomats' Chad Gamble made a nifty move to score his 20th goal of the season and put F&M ahead 4-3. With 4:22 remaining in the half, Bossidy scored his second of the game to extend the Diplomats' lead at 5-3 heading into intermission.
The third quarter was back-and-forth as the Red Devils started the second half with a goal from Rob Kendall at 13:59 before McCulloch scored his first goal of the game at 8:50 to increase the lead back to two at 6-4. At 7:06, Brett Parker found the back of the net to cut the Diplomat lead back to one at 6-5 before Will Ballantyne struck with 4:02 left in the third to put F&M back up by two at 7-5.
Dickinson's defense came out strong in the fourth quarter as the Red Devils did not allow the Diplomats to find the back of the net. At 11:54, Brett Parker struck again to make it a 7-6 game before Brian Gleason scored his 20th of the year at 6:42 to tie the contest at 7-7.
Later in the quarter, with 2:44 to go, Brian Cannon notched his 29th goal of the season to put the Red Devils ahead 8-7.
With under thirty seconds to go, the Diplomats had a good opportunity to tie the game but Dickinson's defense caused a turnover to allow the Red Devils to escape with a narrow 8-7 win.
Pelaez finished with seven ground balls while Kanter had five to lead the Diplomat defense.
Nick Baxter picked up the win with 13 saves and improved to 7-4, while Setian (12-4) took the loss with nine stops.
F&M will head to Dickinson for a CC semifinal matchup on Wednesday. Check back with GoDiplomats.com next week for up-to-date information.
