ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Franklin & Marshall scored early and often en route to a 16-4 thrashing of Muhlenberg in Centennial Conference (CC) men's lacrosse action Saturday afternoon. The victory is the seventh straight for F&M as the Diplomats improved 7-2, 1-0 CC while the Mules dropped to 3-6, 0-1 CC. 

Wes Rhudy found Michael Bossidy 1:37 into the contest to get things started for F&M and Harry Rice made it 2-0 with a tally a little over a minute later. Sean Rogers fed Bossidy at 6:15 before Mike Rama buried a pass from Tucker McBride to give F&M a 4-0 lead heading into the second quarter.

Bossidy and Rama hooked up early in the second and Rogers made it 6-0 with a score at 7:11 in the second quarter. Rogers fed Rama almost a minute later and Anthony Dougherty found twine at 4:01 to make it 8-0 heading into the break.

The Diplomats continued to pour it on in the second with three straight goals in the first eight minutes of the third quarter. Bossidy started the run with a score off a pass from Rogers before Read Zeigler found Rhudy at 9:03. McBride connected with Teddy Bossidy at 7:33 to put F&M up 11-0, but the Mules finally put a point on the board with a score at 4:28 in the third. Billy Schwartz and Read Ziegler put two more on the board for F&M for a 13-2 lead at the end of the third.

Harry Rice made it 14-2 with a score early in the fourth and Schwartz put F&M up 15-2 with a score at 11:17. The Mules managed back-to-back goals before Chris Brindisi put the final point on the board with an unassisted score at 6:51.

Rama and Bossidy both finished with three goals and an assist and Rogers scored once while handing out three assists. Schwartz and Rice each had two goals while Dougherty, T. Bossidy, Zeigler, Rhudy and Brindisi all scored once.

Nick Zenobio and Tommy O'Connor both caused three turnovers to pace the defense and O'Connor along with Zeigler had five ground balls each. Mike Sanzone went 12-for-15 from the X with five ground balls.

Thomas Moore improved to 7-2 with win after turning away seven shots.

F&M outshot Muhlenberg 50-26, held a 33-22 edge in ground balls and went 16-for-16 in clear attempts.

The Diplomats return to action on Wednesday when F&M hosts Ursinus at 7:00 p.m.