SEWANEE, Tenn. – Locked in a 10-10 battle during the fourth quarter, the Franklin & Marshall men's lacrosse team scored the next three goals en route to a 13-11 victory against Sewanee on Saturday afternoon. The win gave head coach Todd Cavallaro the 161st coaching victory of his Diplomats' career, making him the winningest coach in program history. Now in his 18th season leading the Diplomats, Cavallaro passed Ross Sachs who led F&M to 160 wins and a .588 winning percentage over 21 seasons.
The matchup with Sewanee was the first-ever meeting between the two schools. Six different Diplomats tallied multiple goals throughout the win as F&M was paced by five points from Preston Blue and four more from Jack Luviano. Thirteen saves from Teddy Scarborough were also crucial in helping the Diplomats move to 4-2 on the year.
Although the fourth quarter run proved to be the final difference, F&M erased an early deficit with a 5-2 scoring advantage during the second quarter. That period featured goals from Kyle Stevenson, Matt Marino, Dillon Mannix, and Mason Montrella as the visitors took a 6-5 lead into the half.
F&M added to its lead in the third, with two goals from Luviano keying the attack that period. Nevertheless, Sewanee scored the first two goals of the final period to tie the game at 10-all with 10:25 remaining in regulation. From there, Mannix, Kai Kelly, and Marino each scored the second goals of their afternoons in a span of just over three minutes to put the Tigers away.
The Tigers finished the game with a 40-32 advantage in shots, but Scarborough made five saves in the opening period and seven more during the second half to silence the majority of those chances. Peter Della Volpe led the defense with two caused turnovers, while Pierce Archer came up with a team-leading four ground balls.
Franklin & Marshall will now remain in Tennessee where it will play Ohio Northern in Nashville during a neutral site game that is slated for Monday, March 10. That contest will also be the first-ever meeting between those two schools.
