LANCASTER, Pa. – No. 5 Franklin & Marshall defeated Washington 16-10 in Centennial Conference (CC) women's lacrosse action Saturday afternoon at Tylus Field. The Diplomats improved to 9-1, 2-0 CC and the Shorewomen dropped to 5-4, 0-1 CC. 

Tied at 3-3 with 8:29 left in the first, F&M went on a 9-0 run that spanned over 19 minutes and gave the Diplomats a 12-3 lead at 20:35 in the second half.  Grace Saliba picked up her third score of the game to start off the run before Gabby Frank found Paige Moriarty at 6:17 for a 5-3 F&M lead. Frank struck unassisted with 2:19 left in the first to make it 6-3 at the break.

Maddie Hughes continued the scoring in the second half and kicked off a five-goal spurt in 2:20 of action. Saliba picked up the next two points and Hughes found Anastasia Mergner 13 seconds later for a 10-3 F&M lead. Moriarty connected with Frank at 22:26 before Hughes finished off the run with an unassisted tally at 20:35 to make it 12-3.

Washington answered with three straight, and the Diplomats countered with two goals by Natalie Delinsky and Peyton Annese to make it 14-6 with a little under eight minutes to play.  Alli Dudley made it 14-7 and Frank assisted Moriarty three minutes later to put F&M up 15-7.

The Shoremen scored three in a 41-second span to come within five, 15-10, but Mergner put the last point on the board with a goal with 35 seconds left in the game.

Saliba paced the offense with five goals and Frank finished with two scores and three assists. Mergner tallied three scores while Delinsky and Annese each struck once. Moriarty and Hughes both had two scores and a helper for the Diplomats.

Danielle Harrington improved to 8-0 with five stops in goal, and Madeline Mullen took the loss with seven stops.

F&M outshot Washington 37-25, held an 18-12 advantage in ground balls and went 17-for-18 in clear attempts.

The Diplomats return to action on Wednesday when F&M travels to Bryn Mawr for a 4:30 p.m. game.