LANCASTER, Pa. – The No. 5 Franklin & Marshall women's lacrosse team won its fourth consecutive Centennial Conference game on Saturday afternoon with a 19-3 victory against visiting Ursinus. The 16-goal difference matches the Diplomats' largest margin of victory this season after previously defeating Catholic by a 21-5 score.
Lauren Pittman and Gillian Brennan led the team with four goals while both players added an assist to give them five points on the afternoon. Lydia Cassilly led F&M with six points as she recorded a hat trick along with three assists, with both Adde Hollander and Lane Lambeth tallying twice throughout the victory. The Diplomats finished the game with goals on 19 of their 24 shot attempts on goal.
The Diplomats scored the first 10 goals of the contest as they shut out Ursinus for nearly 25 minutes to start Saturday's Centennial Conference meeting. Pittman and Brennan both had hat tricks before the Bears were able to crack the scoreboard as Ursinus got the game to a single-digit goal difference just twice the rest of the afternoon. Claire Book also added her name to the scoresheet during that early run.
Leading 11-2 at the break, Devyn Crone's goal pushed the F&M advantage back to 10 goals as the two teams traded goals to make the score 12-2 just 50 seconds into the third quarter. Crone's goal started an 8-0 F&M run which also saw the Diplomats hold Ursinus off the scoreboard for all but the final 42 seconds of the second half. Skylar Holmes and Avery Briggs gave the hosts nine different goal scorers on the afternoon.
F&M finished the game with a 32-14 advantage in shots. The Diplomats additionally held the edge in both draw controls (16-9) and ground balls (26-19) while limiting the Bears to just 15 of 23 on their clearing attempts. Lane Lambeth and Sophia Geibel aided those efforts with three and two caused turnovers, respectively. Lambeth also collected a team-high six draw controls, but the most memorable of the game went to senior captain Madison Bray who collected her 200th career draw control in addition to dishing out two assists during the win.
The F&M goalies saw just 10 shots on goal, but they were up to the challenge when called upon. Alyssa Moran picked up the win after playing the first half where she made four saves. Sara DiGiovanni stopped both of the shots on goal that she faced before Mary Scally played the final minutes of the fourth quarter and made one more stop for her side.
The No. 5 Diplomats close their busy week with a trip to No. 4 Salisbury on Sunday in a top-five national showdown that is set for 1 p.m. in Maryland. The Diplomats return home next week for two more home dates against Rowan and Washington College.
