LANCASTER, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall men's lacrosse team opened up Centennial Conference play with a 16-6 win against Haverford inside Shadek Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Diplomats (5-3, 1-0 CC) outscored the Fords during each of the first three quarters and eventually built a 15-3 advantage during the fourth before the last whistle of the 16-6 final.

Liam Timmins led nine goal scorers for the Diplomats as he rattled the back of the cage four times during the Centennial Conference opener. James Moroney, Christian Sullivan, Colin Hueston, and Will Mollihan all added two goals throughout the victory.

The opening period featured a combined 10 saves between the two sides as it took nearly 10 minutes before Haverford was able to break through first. However, the Fords' early lead was short lived as Timmins scored his first of the day just 1:20 later before a pair of goals from Sullivan and Hueston during the final 30 seconds of the first period made the score 3-1 F&M after 15 minutes.

Those three goals were part of an eventual 7-0 run as Cullen Decker and Tommy Garofalo added their names to the scoresheet before Mollihan struck twice in a matter of just 34 seconds. Haverford went nearly 20 minutes without goal before scoring with 39 seconds before the half. However, F&M took back any momentum that may have been building when Timmins scored just two seconds prior to the teams heading to the locker room.

Timmins also started the scoring in the third as part of a 5-0 F&M run that was closed by his final goal of the afternoon. Leading 13-3 heading into the final period, Moroney scored back-to-back goals as F&M led 15-3 with just under seven minutes to play. Brett Rama's goal off a pass from Carter Connors at the 1:12 mark was the finally tally of the day for the home team.

F&M posted a 56-49 advantage in shots, and won 15 of the 24 faceoffs, while holding a 46-25 advantage in ground balls. Twenty-two different Diplomats recorded at least one ground ball during the contest, with Helm's six GBs pacing those efforts. Helm earned most of his ground balls during his 15 face-off victories in Saturday's contest. Kyle Craig and Garofalo each added two caused turnovers to the team's defensive efforts. Sage Garito picked up the win in goal as he made six saves before Eric Mueller stopped five more shots during the second half of action.

With only Centennial Conference opponents left on the regular season schedule, the Diplomats will travel to No. 7 Dickinson (Wednesday, March 29) and Swarthmore (Saturday, April 1) this coming week.