WESTMINSTER, Md. – The Franklin & Marshall men's lacrosse team is headed back to the postseason after a 20-5 win at McDaniel on Friday night. The Diplomats were presented with a win-and-in situation and they certainly capitalized from the onset. F&M begin its postseason journey this coming Tuesday at Muhlenberg.

The Diplomats won all four quarters during the Centennial Conference matchup against the Green Terror as they were up 13-2 at the break and matched their largest lead of the night with the final goal of the evening after scoring the first five during the wire-to-wire victory.

Eleven different players scored a goal, while 15 registered a point, during the playoff-clinching victory. The biggest offensive output of the night belonged to Tommy Garofalo as he scored five goals and assisted on three more. Teammates Christian Sullivan, Will Mulligan, Will Mollihan, Kai Kelly, Brett Rama each added two more goals to the winning effort.

Sullivan opened the scoring just 37 seconds into regulation and the Diplomats would not look back from that point. Goals from Kyle Russell and Cullen Decker ultimately helped the team out a 5-0 lead after 15 minutes of action. F&M held the Green Terror scoreless until the 12:54 mark of the second period, but F&M closed the half on an 8-1 run and led 13-2 at the break.

The goals kept coming in the third period as Pierce Archer and Ryan Roberts added their names to the scoring column to make the score 17-3 with just 15 minutes to go before the playoff celebration ensued. Brett Rama later scored a pair of fourth quarter goals before James Moroney put the final tally in the back of the net with 2:41 remaining in regulation.

The Diplomats finished with 63 shots on the night and dominated the ground ball battle to a 42-22 edge. F&M also had the 17-12 edge at the face-off X with Matthew Freeman's 14-for-22 night leading those efforts. F&M's goalies combined for a nearly 69 percent save percentage in less than ideal conditions. Sage Garito earned the win by stopping four of the six shots he faced in the first half. Eric Mueller stopped five of the seven he was tasked with before John Donovan added two more stops. Lachlan Barber wrapped up the game in goal as the time ran out on the regular season.

Men's lacrosse will now get set for the postseason tournament that gets underway Tuesday, May 2 with the newly expanded first round game. The time for that contest will be determined on a conference call Monday morning.