LANCASTER, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall men's lacrosse team shut down Catholic on Saturday afternoon as the Diplomats rolled to a 13-5 victory while improving to 4-1 record on the season. The Diplomats allowed just one goal during the opening half as they scored seven of the game's first eight during the commanding victory.
Sage Garito stopped nearly 69 percent of the shots he faced in the rainy conditions and came away with 11 saves before Teddy Scarborough added one more stop during the final 6:10 of regulation in which he took over in the cage. F&M finished the game with a 54-32 advantage in shots, with both Mason Montrella and Kai Kelly recording hat tricks on the attacking end. Montrella additionally dished out three assists for a team-high six points. Both Christian Sullivan and Colin Hueston tallied two goals and an assist during Saturday's game, while Jack Luviano, Liam Timmins, and Dillon Mannix also found the back of the cage.
Catholic did not score its first goal until the 13:17 mark of the second quarter as the Diplomats raced out to a 4-0 lead after the first quarter. Montrella scored two goals during the final 22 seconds of that opening period to get his offensive day started. Even when the visiting Cardinals did get on the scoreboard, F&M answered with two more to close the quarter as Timmins and Hueston both rattled the back of the cage before the teams headed to the locker rooms.
Montrella capped his hat trick during the early moments of the third period as he took a pass from Timmins to set the score at 7-1 before Catholic finally found its second goal of the afternoon. Franklin & Marshall scored at least three goals in a row on four separate occasions, allowing the Cardinals back-to-back tallies on only their final two goals of the afternoon. During the third quarter, Sullivan started that third unanswered run before Kelly tallied his final two goals of the day with just 2:25 in regulation in between those shots.
Franklin & Marshall held its largest lead of the afternoon at 13-3 when Hueston, Luviano, and Mannix had their own run of goals just before the midway point of the final period. Catholic closed with the final two goals of the contest in the eventual 13-5 final score as no Cardinals player was able to find the back of the cage more than once.
Helping F&M's defensive efforts around the crease were a team-high three caused turnovers from both Brendan Murphy and Owen Hire. Hire was additionally one of three players who led the team with three ground balls, joining Pierce Archer, Kevin O'Connor, and Montrella in those hustle efforts. The Diplomats used four different players at the face-off X, with Adam Soper, Connor Traynor, and Alex Fraser all registering restart victories for the home team.
Men's lacrosse wraps up its stretch of six consecutive home games to start the 2024 season next Saturday when the Diplomats welcome Kenyon to Shadek Stadium. That game is set for a 12 p.m. start in Lancaster.
