LANCASTER, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall women's lacrosse team has won back-to-back Centennial Conference Championships and has made consecutive appearances in the NCAA Final Four during both the 2023 and 2024 seasons. With seven starters, multiple All-Americans, and a host of key contributors returning for the 2025 season, optimism is once again high for another deep postseason run.
Position Breakdown
Attack
The Diplomats were the first team in the history of Division III women's lacrosse to have four players each score at least 60 goals in a single season last year. Three of those players return, including senior Lydia Cassilly and junior Lauren Pittman on the attack. Cassilly is a already a two-time All-American who is climbing her way up the F&M record books as she ranks fourth in school history in free-position goals (33), eighth in points (263), ninth in goals (171), and 10th in assists (92). She registered 105 points for the fourth-highest single-season total in school history last year with 67 goals and 38 assists. Pittman earned first-team All-America honors last season after her 72 goals were the fourth-highest single-season total in F&M history. She additionally tied the program's single-season record with 109 draw controls and has 166 career points entering her third season with the Diplomats.
Junior Devyn Crone and sophomore Skylar Holmes are two more returning pieces to the attack which scored 373 goals last season to break the 2009 national championship winning team's record of 345 goals. Crone will look to build on her career year as she scored 16 goals while playing in 22 games last spring. Holmes returns for her second year with the Diplomats after scoring five goals and assisting on three more during her rookie season. First-year Alexandra Proefrock joins the attack for the 2025 season.
Midfield
Reigning Centennial Conference Midfielder of the Year Lane Lambeth earned second-team All-America honors during the 2024 season after she scored 63 goals. In addition to her scoring potential, Lambeth was instrumental in a number of facets that contributed to the team's success as she ranked third on the team in draw controls (58) and caused turnovers (19) last year. Fellow senior Megan Bizub also started every game a season ago. In 2024, Bizub set career highs in both caused turnovers (14) and ground balls (15) while registering five points. Adde Hollander is another experienced midfielder as the senior has appeared in 51 games during her F&M career and scored 11 goals and 21 contests a season ago.
Juniors Myranda Beebe, Claire Book, and Julia Carbon have all seen significant playing time during their careers and will look for an increased role this year. Book scored 12 goals in 21 games a season ago, while Carbon has made her biggest impact with 28 career draw controls. Beebe appeared in 15 contests a year ago, scoring the first four goals of her Diplomat career. Franklin & Marshall added seven first-years to the roster, including four first-years who will contribute to the midfield in Shea Dekshenieks, Rose Dunne, Annie Marshall, and Svia Russman-Araya.
Defense
Belle Dintino was named the Centennial Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2024 after her 42 caused turnovers were the second-highest total in a single season for the Diplomats. Already a two-year starter, the junior is a two-time All-American who earned first-team recognition from the IWLCA last spring. She headlines an experienced unit that includes seniors Izzy Deubner, Ellen Kelly, and Izzy Spagnuolo. All three of those veterans have been starters during their collegiate careers. Deubner is a two-year starter and coming off a season in which she set new career highs with 23 ground balls and 12 caused turnovers. Spagnoulo burst onto the scene while starting every contest during her rookie campaign and has 26 career ground balls and 14 caused turnovers to her resume. Ellen Kelly emerged as a starter in every game last season, setting career highs in both ground balls (15) and caused turnovers (9).
Sophomore Sophia Geibel made an instant impact for the team during her rookie campaign as she started 20 of the team's 23 games, contributing 27 ground balls and 17 caused turnovers to F&M's winning ways. Adding even more depth to the defense are juniors Mia Geignetter and Lucy Rogers who have both appeared in over 20 contests throughout their careers. Now sophomores, Gretta Harnish and Mary Katherine Savio played in 15 and 14 games, respectively, during their rookie campaigns. First-year Sydney Birchard joins the defensive ranks for the 2025 season.
Goalie
After graduating two-year starter Alyssa Moran, junior Sara DiGiovanni returns with the most collegiate experience. DiGiovanni appeared in 12 games last season while logging over 220 minutes of playing time. During those minutes, she posted an 8.17 goals against average while stopping over 44 percent of the shots that she faced. One of her most notable performances came when she made six saves to earn the overtime victory against Salisbury during the 2024 season. With two goalies on the roster, first-year Rachel Jones will be a key part of the 2025 season during her first collegiate campaign.
Schedule
The Diplomats consistently challenge themselves with one of the toughest schedules in the country and this year will be no different as they battle nine teams who qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2024 throughout the regular season. That includes non-conference contests against fellow Final Four qualifiers in William Smith and Salisbury. The season begins at home with a Washington and Lee squad who appeared in the Elite Eight last spring. Another annual highlight of the team's schedule is the trip to Florida where the Diplomats will take on Shenandoah in Clearwater. Centennial Conference play begins on Saturday, March 22 at Swarthmore. Fans will have a total of 10 chances to see the Diplomats inside Shadek Stadium during the regular season.
Centennial Conference Preseason Poll
The Diplomats have won the last two Centennial Conference Championships, but were picked second in a vote of the conference's head coaches. F&M received two of the nine first-place votes and were just edged out by Gettysburg for the top spot. Haverford also qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2024 and was picked third in the preseason poll. The Centennial Conference will once again take six qualifiers for its postseason tournament this spring. Dickinson, Muhlenberg, and Washington College were predicted to claim those spots in the preseason voting.
Coaching Staff
The 2025 season will be the first on the Franklin & Marshall sidelines for head coach Renee Dowd who joined the Diplomats after spending the last three years as the head coach at Bates where her teams increased their win total each season in the highly competitive NESCAC. Dowd also has experience coaching at the Division I level with Elon University. Julie Gardner and Chris Tongel will serve as assistants on Dowd's staff. Gardner was an All-American at Virginia during her playing career and has coached at the Division I level before spending the last three years at Division III Lycoming. Tongel returns to the staff in 2025 after helping with the goalies during the team's run to the Final Four in 2024.
