HAVERFORD, Pa. – The No. 17 Franklin & Marshall men's lacrosse team took down Haverford on the road Saturday afternoon, closing the regular season with a 15-11 victory. The Diplomats (12-4, 5-3 CC) outscored the Fords 11-3 during the second and third quarters to propel themselves to the victory. Unfortunately, F&M did not get the help it needed around the conference and was eliminated from the Centennial Conference Tournament as it had the tiebreaker ultimately work against them.

Reigning Centennial Conference Player of the Week A.J. Rigsby had another big day with five goals and two assists during the win. Will Mollihan added four points (2g, 2a) and Kai Kelly also finished with a hat trick. James Moroney scored twice during the win. The Diplomats also got a huge day from Sage Garito, who made 19 saves as he faced 30 shots throughout the fast-paced affair.

The Diplomats racked up a season-high 62 shots for their highest total since the February of 2020 at Susquehanna. F&M applied the pressure early with goals from Kai Kelly and Rigsby, but Haverford closed the first quarter on a 4-0 run to take the lead into the second period. F&M started its goal scoring outburst just 34 seconds into the second quarter on a man-up goal from Moroney. That was one of two advantage goals in the period as the six-goal streak also featured a Blake Target man-up goal. Kelly and Moroney each had two goals during the run, with Colin Hueston also rattling the twine.

Franklin & Marshall scored five of the final six goals during the third quarter to push its lead to a 13-6 advantage. Rigsby (three goals) and Mollihan (two goals) handled all of the scored for F&M in that period before Will Mulligan and Rigsby further extended F&M's lead to a game-best 15-8 advantage midway through the fourth period.

The Diplomats had at least 15 shots during each period. Haverford had the better of the face-off X early in the contest, but the Diplomats won 10 of the 14 restarts during the second half, limiting the Fords' advantage at the face-off X to just 15-13. Connor Helm (7-of-12) and Matthew Freeman (6-of-14) led those restart efforts. F&M maintained a 43-31 advantage in ground balls, with Kyle Craig's six GBs leading the way. Helm added five more in the winning effort as 12 different Diplomats secured multiple ground balls.

Although they will not be competing in the Centennial Conference Tournament, the Diplomats will now hope for an at-large bid after posting 12 overall wins while competing in one of the strongest conferences in Division III. The Diplomats were ranked sixth in the NCAA's Region III rankings this past week. Although not an official NCAA selection criteria, the Diplomats are currently ranked 17th in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll and have been ranked in the top 10 nationally during multiple weeks of the regular season.