LANCASTER, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall men's lacrosse team sent the 16 members of its senior class out on a winning note Friday evening as the Diplomats used a huge third quarter to overtake McDaniel by a 12-7 final score. F&M took the lead late in the first half and pulled away for good on the strength of a 7-1 third quarter advantage on the scoreboard.
Kai Kelly led the Diplomats with four goals and one assist, with seniors James Moroney and Kyle Russell also finding the back of the cage twice on their Senior Night. Colin Hueston also netted a goal on Senior Night, while Ryan Roberts, Ryan Connelly, and Dillon Mannix additionally starred for the attack.
The Green Terror held early advantages, but Franklin & Marshall never trailed by more than one at any point on Friday night. The hosts never trailed again after Mannix finished a pass from Kelly that put the hosts up 5-4 after 30 minutes of play.
In addition to scoring the final two goals of the second quarter, F&M extended its run to 7-0 with the first five goals of the third quarter. Kelly scored four of those first five third quarter goals as the Diplomats' advantage grew to 10-4 just over six minutes into the second half. Franklin & Marshall's largest lead of the night came when seniors Russell and Moroney scored with 12 and seven seconds to play, respectively, to close out a dominant third quarter that saw F&M hold a 16-1 advantage in total shots.
Senior face-off specialist Adam Soper also had a huge Senior Night with 10 ground balls to become the first Diplomat since John Singer in 2001 to go over 100 ground balls for the season. He finished his senior campaign with 109 ground balls, marking which marks the second-highest single-season ground ball total in school history after winning 15 of the 22 faceoffs against McDaniel.
Two more seniors anchored the play in the crease as Sage Garito made a pair of saves during his three-plus quarters of game action before Lachlan Barber stopped one more shot from the Green Terror to close out the 2024 campaign. Luke Topley and Pierce Archer paced the defensive unit with three caused turnovers each as the Diplomats held a 34-24 advantage in ground balls thanks to a huge advantage at the X.
In addition to finishing the season with the Class of 2024 winning its final game inside Shadek Stadium, Friday night also gave the team a chance to celebrate four years of tremendous contributions from this senior class which included a 2021 Centennial Conference Championship and another postseason appearance just last spring.
