LANCASTER, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall field hockey team took on York (Pa.) in a battle of teams sitting just outside the top 20 nationally and looking to make their case to move up the national rankings on Wednesday afternoon. The Diplomats had the final edge in both shots (11-6) and penalty corners (10-4), but it was the Spartans who had the only two goals in the 2-0 final.

The Diplomats had three of the four shots during the opening quarter of play, but it was F&M goalie Jorja Pastore who made the only save of the first 15 minutes. York had the only offensive shot of the second quarter, but the Spartans would make the most of that penalty corner chance as Connie Harburda got a tip to go in after the initial insert from Kat Knox was sent towards goal by Libby Wild.

Franklin & Marshall held the advantage in shots during three of the four quarters, but once again it was only York that found the back of the cage during the third. After an initial save, Katie Martino was able to corral a pass from her teammate and send it home for the 2-0 advantage just over three minutes into the second half.

The hosts took eight shots and earned eight penalty corners during the final 30 minutes of regulation, but were not able to be rewarded for those persistent efforts as York goalie Belle Fields made five saves to finish with the shutout. All five of those saves came during a busy half of action in front of York's defensive end.

Keira Boensch led the Diplomats with four shots on the afternoon, putting two of those attempts on goal. Sophie Carroll and Molly Paulsen both recorded multiple shots throughout the match. Pastore made three saves for the Diplomats on the afternoon.

Field hockey will return to action this weekend when the Diplomats return to Tylus Field this Saturday for a 12 p.m. match against No. 9 Kean. That will mark a busy day on the home turf for F&M athletics as women's and men's soccer both open their Centennial Conference schedules that same day against Washington College.