ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall men's lacrosse team, ranked No. 12 in the latest USILA poll, scored eight goals in the final 12:44 of regulation to turn an 8-2 deficit into a 10-9 win against Muhlenberg on Saturday. The Mules, a team receiving votes in the national rankings, came into the contest undefeated in the Centennial Conference action but were handed their first conference defeat of the season with the thrilling fourth quarter comeback.

F&M got out to the early lead as A.J. Rigsby scored his 100th career goal just over two minutes into the contest. However, it would be another 30 minutes before his second goal of the game during the third quarter made it a 7-2 contest. The Mules had stretched their lead to an 8-2 advantage by the start of the fourth quarter, with goalie Max May making 13 saves throughout the first 45 minutes.

Nevertheless, the Diplomats broke through in a huge way during that fourth quarter as they outshot the Mules 16-7 over the final 15 and minutes and rattled the back of the cage on eight of their 10 shots on goals. F&M got three goals back in short order as Blake Target, James Moroney, and Rigsby all scored within 2:10 of each other to make the score 8-5. Will Mollihan's goal to make it 8-6 came at the 8:14 mark, but no further scoring occurred until Muhlenberg's Dominick Visintin tallied with 5:07 remaining in regulation. Target got the game back to a two-goal deficit at the 4:12 mark, but it was three goals in just 1:10 of playing time that pushed F&M in front for good.

Kai Kelly and Will DeMuth scored just 43 seconds apart as the Diplomats knotted the game at nine with 2:15 to play. Just 27 seconds after that game-tying goal, Target capped off his hat trick with 1:48 in regulation. Both Target and Rigsby finished the game with hat tricks, as Rigsby also dished out three assists on the afternoon. DeMuth and Kelly each finished with multiple points during that fourth quarter surge.

Lost in the furious scoring pace of the fourth quarter was a strong game between the pipes from Sage Garito who made 21 saves on Saturday. Five of those saves came during the fourth quarter, including two during the final 65 seconds of regulation to deny the hosts the game-tying goal.

F&M won 6 of the 10 face-offs during the final quarter as Adam Soper led those efforts for the game with nine wins during his 15 restarts. Even with the strong fourth quarter, it was Muhlenberg that held a slight 43-40 advantage in shots, but the 21 saves from Garito loomed large in the final stat line. F&M also caused 10 turnovers on the defensive side of the ball, with two each from Noah Isaacson and Pierce Archer. Eight different players scooped up multiple ground balls as the Diplomats had a 29-25 edge in that category. Rigsby and Isaacson led those efforts with four ground balls each.

Men's lacrosse will now face its final two-game week of the regular season in what is sure to be a week of challenging competition. On Wednesday, the Diplomats return home for a 7 p.m. contest under the lights of Shadek Stadium against No. 9 Dickinson. The Red Devils are the lone remaining undefeated team in Centennial Conference play. Next Saturday, F&M will travel to Ursinus for a 12 p.m. start against a Bears team that is currently receiving votes in the national polls.