ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – The No. 16 Franklin & Marshall men's lacrosse team started the 2023 season with a 4-0 record, but suffered its first defeat of the year on the second night of back-to-back games at Elizabethtown. It took overtime, but the host Blue Jays tied the score with two goals during the final 2:03 of playing time before netting the game-winner in overtime.

Tommy Garofalo and Christian Sullivan once again paced the attack with four and three goals, respectively. Will Mulligan, Will Mollihan, Liam Timmins, and Cullen Decker also had multiple points on the night as the Diplomats led 10-5 at the half before the Blue Jays mounted their second half comeback.

The Blue Jays scored the first two goals of Wednesday's contest, but when Decker broke the ice for the Diplomats, the visitors would score 10 of the next 13 goals to jump out to the early advantage. After getting the first goal, it took just 43 more seconds before Mulligan knotted the game at two. Garofalo scored his first of the night to give F&M a 3-0 lead and the Diplomats would not trail again in regulation.

Elizabethtown tied the game at three and four-all around a goal from Mollihan, but the Diplomats closed the half on a 6-1 run that featured all three of Sullivan's goals that were just under seven minutes apart. The Blue Jays got the game within a goal after scoring the first four of the second half before Connor Helm and Garofalo helped the Diplomats take a 12-9 lead into the final quarter. Nevertheless, the Blue Jays outscored F&M 4-1 in that final period to force OT.

Late in regulation, the Diplomats got a huge caused turnover from Pierce Archer with under a minute to play, but fired of a pair of potential game-winning attempts wide of target as the clock ticked down to zero. Franklin & Marshall seemed to have another caused turnover in the overtime period, but a penalty gave the Blue Jays an extra-man opportunity that they converted for the 14-13 final.

Franklin & Marshall's goalies combined for 17 saves on the night, compared just 11 from their counterpart. Sage Garito made 12 stops during the first half before Eric Mueller made five more during his 31-plus minutes in the crease. Men's lacrosse will now have just over a week to prepare for another set of back-to-back games when the team travels to Stevenson for the Mustang Classic where it will play No. 10 York (Mar. 17) and No. 9 Lynchburg (Mar. 18).