LANCASTER, Pa. – No. 5 Franklin & Marshall earned a 15-5 victory over No. 19 Messiah in women's lacrosse action Tuesday afternoon at Tylus Field. The win is the sixth straight for F&M as the Diplomats improved to 12-1 while the Falcons dropped to 6-5 with the loss. 

Messiah stayed close in the early minutes of the first half and took an early 1-0 lead a little over two minutes into the game. Grace Saliba answered 20 seconds later to tie the contest at 1-1, and Messiah countered with a score at 24:51 and took a 2-1 lead. That was as close as the Falcons would get as F&M scored four straight and took a 5-2 lead. Katie Groenke started the run, followed by two scores from Claire Jackson and Groenke found Moriarty at 11:47 to finish off the spurt. 

The Falcons put one through at 5:02 and F&M responded with two straight to close out the half and take a 7-3 lead into the break. Saliba fed Anastasia Mergner for the first tally and Moriarty struck unassisted at 2:37. 

F&M picked up when it left off with a 7-0 run to start the final half.  Saliba connected with Groenke to get things started, and Jackson assisted Moriarty at 27:51 before Saliba found twine on a free position to make it 10-3 with 18:42 on the clock. 

Moriarty continued the run with a score around the midway point and Saliba recorded her third assist with a pass to Natalie Delinsky at 9:41. Gabby Frank buried a pass from Groenke before Moriarty finished the run with a score on a free position with a little under seven to play. Messiah put two more on the board with under five to play, before Taylor Freud found Claire Miller for the final score of the game. 

Moriarty finished with five scores and Saliba scored twice and handed out three assists.  Groenke had two goals and two assists; Jackson scored twice with one assist while Frank, Delinsky, and Mergner all netted a goal for F&M. 

Samantha Blicht led the defense with six caused turnovers and collected three ground balls, and Peyton Annese along with Vanessa Budd and Mergner all caused two turnovers. 

Danielle Harrington turned away seven shots and improved to 9-0 and Alexa Dipeso took the loss with 11 stops for the Falcons. 

F&M outshot Messiah 36-16, caused 24 turnovers and went 18-for-10 in clear attempts. 

The Diplomats return to action on Saturday when F&M travels to Swarthmore for a 1:00 p.m. game.