OWINGS MILLS, Md. – No. 4 Franklin & Marshall held off No. 19 Stevenson and defeated the Mustangs 13-8 on Wednesday afternoon in non-conference women's lacrosse action. The Diplomats stayed undefeated and sit at 3-0, while Stevenson fell to 0-3. 

F&M jumped out to a 5-0 lead early on, beginning with Emily Everdell's unassisted goal just over three minutes into the game at 26:58. Freshman Paige Moriarty then netted a free position goal with 21:12 remaining in the first for a 2-0 lead. Grace Saliba netted three straight for F&M, as the junior scored an unassisted goal at the 19 minute mark, followed by a goal at 17:41 assisted by Gabby Frank. Her third goal of the day came at 8:28 to give F&M the 5-0 advantage.

Just 10 seconds after the Diplomats made it 5-0, the Mustangs' Kathryn Merrick notched the first tally of the half for Stevenson, but F&M went into halftime with a comfortable 5-1 lead.

Coming out of the break, the Mustangs scored two in a row to cut the Diplomats' lead to two at 5-3 with 27:26 left in the contest, but six straight F&M goals put the Diplomats up 11-3 with 19:35 remaining in the game. In the midst of the six-goal run, Brittney Jorgenson and Anastasia Mergner recorded two goals each, while and Frank and Saliba also scored.

After F&M's spurt, Stevenson answered with five consecutive goals to make it 11-8 at 5:10, but F&M put away the Mustangs for good with goals from Moriarty at 2:17 and Jorgenson with 40 seconds to go, as the Diplomats went on to win 13-8.

Saliba finished with four goals  and two assists to pace F&M, while Jorgenson added three and Mergner and Moriarty each registered two. Frank had a goal and handed out three assists and Everdell finished with a score and a helper.

Katie Groenke led the Diplomats with five draw controls, while Mergner had a team-high five ground balls and Vanessa Budd recorded three ground balls and caused three turnovers.

Merrick led the way for Stevenson with four goals and four draw controls. Amanda Legar caused three turnovers, while picking up three ground balls.

Kaitlin Hardt improved to 3-0 with five saves  in goal and Leanne Bittner (0-3) took the loss after stopping 11 shots.

F&M held the advantage in shots (35-17) and draw controls (15-8) and had a slight edge in ground balls (20-17). The Diplomats were a perfect 11-for-11 on clear attempts.

F&M returns to action on Sunday when the Diplomats welcome Brockport St. to Tylus Field for a 12:00 p.m. contest.