WASHINGTON, D.C. – Locked in a 10-9 battle at the half, the Franklin & Marshall men's lacrosse scored 13 goals and conceded just one during the second half for a 23-10 victory over Catholic in the nation's capital. Both teams entered the contest receiving votes in the USILA national polls.

Although the attack certainly captured its share of the headlines with another strong performance, Kyle Craig was exceptional on defense as he caused six turnovers to tie the school record for a single game which had been accomplished just three times prior. The most recent occurrence came during the 2019 season when both Ellis Llewellyn (vs. Haverford) and Tommy O'Connor (vs. Ursinus) reached that feat. Josh Kanter was the first F&M player to hit that mark when he forced six takeaways against Ursinus during the 2013 season. Brendan Murphy also registered three caused turnovers, with Franklin & Marshall collecting 13 CTs as a squad.

Reigning Centennial Conference Offensive Player of the Week Tommy Garofalo had a hat trick during both halves, including four goals over the final 30 minutes to finish with seven for the contest. In addition to his career-high eight points, Garofalo's total is his second seven goal performance during his first three collegiate games. The F&M rookie has now tallied 17 goals during his first three collegiate appearances.

Nevertheless, Garofalo was far from alone in providing the offense as he was one of four Diplomats who recorded hat tricks on the afternoon. Christian Sullivan tallied two goals during each half and added an assist to finish with five points. Two more first-years, Liam Timmins and Cullen Decker, both added three goals each. Timmins additionally doled out three helpers to finish with six points. Will Mollihan and Colin Hueston also scored twice in the victory, with Mollihan totaling five points.

Franklin & Marshall showed a slight glimpse of things to come with five goals in a span of just under six minutes during the first quarter, claiming a 6-2 lead that it would never fully relinquish. Sullivan scored twice during that streak, with Will Mulligan also adding his name to the score sheet. The Cardinals closed the first half by scoring five of the final six goals, but the Diplomats were still up 10-9 at the break.

Coming out of the halftime break, the Diplomats dominated the third quarter with a 17-1 advantage in shots. That offensive pressure resulted in eight third quarter goals, featuring three in that period alone from Garofalo. Franklin & Marshall's run extended to 12-0 late in the fourth quarter as the score climbed to a 22-9 Diplomat advantage. After the Cardinals finally broke their scoreless stretch in the final minute of regulation, Carter Connors quickly answered with his first career goal.

The Diplomats finished Saturday's contest with a 56-32 advantage in shots and also made two more saves than the Catholic goalies (11-9). Sage Garito played the first 30 minutes in goal and made five saves before Eric Mueller closed the second half by stopping six of the seven shots that he faced. Connor Helm assumed the main faceoff duties and won 14 of his 27 attempts at the X, while Matthew Freeman added two more restart victories. That success at the faceoff allowed Helm to pick up a team-best six ground balls, with both teams totaling 40 GBs on the afternoon.

Men's lacrosse will now have a full week off from games before hosting Roanoke on Tuesday, March 7 at 4 p.m. inside Shadek Stadium.