LANCASTER, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall men's lacrosse team got back on the winning side Saturday with an 8-7 victory over Swarthmore inside Shadek Stadium. The Diplomats raced out to an 8-3 lead and had held the Garnet scoreless for over 37 minutes before Swarthmore tighthtened the contest with the final four goals of the afternoon.

The Garnet did all of their scoring during the first and fourth quarters while the Diplomats did enough in between those runs to come away with the conference victory. Will DeMuth had another hat trick for the Diplomats and opened the scoring just 54 seconds into play, but the Garnet scored the next three. With the visitors holding a 3-1 advantage, Kai Kelly answered that run with a goal just 30 seconds later as F&M trailed just 3-2 heading into the second quarter.

Sage Garito came up with eight saves during the middle two periods as part of his 13 save afternoon overall. Garito finished the game with a 65 percent save percentage to help his team maintain the lead. With Garito stopping the Garnet attack cold, James Moroney scored a pair of unassisted goals while A.J. Rigsby and DeMuth also contributed on the scoresheet during a 4-0 second period.

Will Mollihan's goal at the 11:50 mark of the third quarter marked the only scoring of that period while the Diplomats took an 8-3 lead as DeMuth finished off his hat trick on a man-up feed from Rigsby just 21 seconds into the final quarter. When the Garnet did make their charge, they scored four times over the final 10:30 of game time. The final goal came with 3:22 remaining in regulation. Nevertheless, Garito came up with two huge saves in that remaining time and saw another shot travel wide of net as the Diplomats prevailed by an 8-7 final.

Franklin & Marshall held a 40-35 advantage in shots throughout the contest, but 11 saves from Swarthmore's Shane Nachshen, including five during the fourth quarter, prevented the Diplomats from further extending their lead. F&M collected 28 ground balls, with Connor Helm grabbing five. Kyle Craig, Moroney, and Rigsby each collected three ground balls. Craig also tied with Blake Target as both players caused a pair of turnovers.

After a pair of games this past week, the Diplomats will have a full week to get ready for the trip to Muhlenberg which is slated for Saturday, April 9. The opening face-off for that game is scheduled for 12 p.m. noon in Allentown.