LANCASTER, Pa. – No. 8 Franklin & Marshall defeated No.13 York 9-5 in women's lacrosse action Wednesday afternoon at Tylus Field. The Diplomats picked up their first win of the year and improved to 1-0 while the Spartans dropped to 1-1. 

F&M struck just 55 seconds into the game when Brittney Jorgenson found Gabby Frank for an early 1-0 edge and Megan Kelly scored at 23:41 to put the Diplomats up 2-0. York answered with back-to-back goals and tied the game at 2-2 at 18:21. 

The Diplomats responded with three straight and took the lead for good as Grace Saliba netted the first goal in the run on a free position before Paige Moriarty found Jorgensen on the doorstep at 15:22 for a 4-2 F&M advantage. Morairty scored unassisted under two minutes later to cap off the run and give F&M a 5-2 lead. 

Allison Kolacy brought York within two, 5-3, on a free position shot with 6:58 left in the first before Emily Everdell and Casey Madden tallied free position goals almost three minutes apart to put F&M up 7-3 at the break. 

Both defenses stepped up in the second as the teams managed two goals each. York put the first one through 35 seconds into the second stanza with a goal by Sarah Castle and the Diplomats countered with two of their own for a 9-4 lead. Kelly picked up the first goal at 23:27 and Kimberly Abruzzo found twine 19 minutes later on a free position for the Diplomats last goal of the game. Castle added one more for York at 3:38 to make it 9-5. 

Moriarty finished with a goal and an assist in her first collegiate game while Kelly had a team-high two scores and Jorgenson ended with a goal and one helper for the Diplomats. Katie Groenke, Everdell and Anastasia Mergner all picked up two draws and Mergner added a game-best four ground balls with three caused turnovers. 

Kaitlin Hardt picked up the win in goal with four saves and improved to 1-0 while Charlotte Wright suffered the loss with five stops and dropped to 1-1. 

F&M returns to action on Saturday when the Diplomats take on Washington & Lee at 1:00 p.m. at the St. Paul's School in Brooklandville, Md.