LANCASTER, Pa. – The fourth-ranked Franklin & Marshall women's lacrosse team raced out to a 9-4 lead in the middle of the third quarter before holding back a late comeback bid from Dickinson to remain undefeated in Centennial Conference play on Saturday. The 10-9 final in Carlisle keeps the Diplomats (11-2, 4-0 CC) perfect in conference play with four games remaining over the final two weeks of the regular season.
Lydia Cassilly, Lauren Pittman, and Claire Book all tallied twice throughout the victory. The Diplomats finished with a 27-25 advantage in shots and 20-14 edge in shots on goal, but 12 combined saves from Dickinson's goalie duo kept the game interesting late after the Diplomats had won each of the first three quarters of play.
Goals from Casilly and Pittman saw F&M holding a 2-1 lead after the first quarter, but the Diplomats' largest run of the game came after the Red Devils knotted the score early in the second quarter as the visitors ran off four consecutive goals. Cassilly and Pittman finished the first half with two goals each, while Book and Megan Bizub also got on the scoresheet as Franklin & Marshall was doubling up the hosts by a 6-3 score after 30 minutes of play.
The Red Devils scored the first goal of the second half, but a 3-0 run in favor of the Diplomats put the game solidly back in their favor. Book started that stretch with her second goal of the day before Adde Hollander and Lane Lambeth added their names to the list of seven F&M goal scorers. Lambeth's goal came at the 7:52 mark of the third quarter and had the Diplomats up 9-4 with just a period and a half to play.
Dickinson's comeback bid started in earnest as it scored just one more time during the third quarter. However, that goal started a 5-1 run that the Red Devils closed the game on. Alexandra Proefrock's goal was F&M's only scoring of the final period, but it proved to be critical as that tally at the 6:51 mark was ultimately the difference in the 10-9 final score.
The Red Devils did score twice during the final three minutes of regulation for the one-goal difference, but the last goal came with just 20 seconds to play. Dickinson won the draw control off of that final restart, but a caused turnover from Izzy Spagnuolo put any final thoughts of a comeback to rest.
Spagnuolo finished with two of Franklin & Marshall's six caused turnovers during the Centennial Conference win. Sara DiGiovanni picked up the win after making seven saves. Aiding the defensive efforts were a team-best three ground balls from Ellen Kelly and Belle Dintino, while Pittman came away with six draw controls in addition to her two goals on the attacking end of the field.
Franklin & Marshall wraps up the road portion of its regular season schedule this coming week as the team heads to Maryland twice. Up first will be a 7 p.m. start under the lights at McDaniel on Wednesday, April 16 before a 1 p.m. start in Chestertown next Saturday at Washington College.
