LANCASTER, Pa. – Paige Moriarty scored six goals, and Grace Saliba along with Anastasia Mergner finished four goals each to lead No. 5 Franklin & Marshall to a 19-13 victory over Catholic on Wednesday afternoon. The Diplomats improved to 8-1 while the Cardinals dropped to 3-6. 

F&M jumped out to an early 4-1 lead 10 minutes into the game. Claire Jackson found Saliba at 26:03 to get things started before Moriarty scored three in a seven-minute span with Gabby Frank and Saliba assisting on the first two goals.  The teams exchanged points over the next 17 minutes with F&M holding onto a 7-5 edge at the break.

Moriarty and Saliba struck early in the second to put F&M up 9-5, before the Cardinals answered with two of their own to come within two, 9-7, at 23:33. F&M answered with three straight with a goal from Frank and two from Mergner to give F&M a 12-7 lead with 18:17 left to play.

The Cardinals made it 12-8 before F&M rattled off three more. Katie Groenke started the run and Mergner finished off a pass from Claire Jackson before Saliba found Frank to end the run. Catholic made 15-9, but the Diplomats answered again with another 3-0 run and took an 18-9 lead with 7:06 left in the game. Catholic responded by closing out the game with a 4-1 run.

Moriarty finished with six goals and an assist while Saliba tallied four and handed out four assists. Mergner finished with four scores, and a helper and Frank had three goals and three assists. Natalie Delinsky finished with three assists and Caroline Kolva along with Groenke both had a goal.

Samantha Blicht caused seven turnovers and collected three ground balls to pace the defense while Vanessa Budd had three caused turnovers with three draws, and Sarah Bozzo finished with two caused turnovers. Stephanie Speese ended with a team-high four ground balls.

Danielle Harrington picked up the win with 11 saves and improved to 5-0 and Christina DeCesaris took the loss with 18 stops.

F&M held a 20-17 edge in ground balls, went 13-for-17 in clear attempts and forced 25 turnovers.

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