LANCASTER, Pa. – The No. 5 Franklin & Marshall women's lacrosse team seized sole control of first place in the Centennial Conference standings with a 13-10 victory against No. 23 Haverford on Saturday afternoon. The Diplomats (10-1, 3-0 CC) outscored the Fords (9-3, 2-1 CC) by a 9-4 margin during the second half to remain as the only undefeated team in the conference's regular season standings.
Just one game after recording her 300th career point, Lydia Cassilly had another big game with four goals and three assists to pace the attack. Alexandra Proefrock added another hat trick for the Diplomats, with Lauren Pittman and Lane Lambeth also scoring multiple goals.
Franklin & Marshall was out to the early 3-1 lead with a pair of goals from Lambeth, and another from Devyn Crone, during the first quarter. However, the Fords started the second half with five consecutive goals of their own to take a 6-3 lead that was trimmed to a single goal following Proefrock's first tally of the day just before the half.
That goal started a 5-0 run for the Diplomats which featured three third quarter goals from Cassilly and another from Proefrock to give the hosts an 8-7 lead heading into the final 15 minutes.
Another 5-0 run to start the fourth quarter gave F&M a 13-7 edge for its largest lead of the day. Pittman scored the first two goals of the final period before Adde Hollander registered her first goal of the afternoon. Cassily and Proefrock closed their prolific offensive performances with the final two F&M goals before Haverford brought the game to just a three-goal difference with a trio of goals during the final three minutes of regulation time.
F&M finished with a 33-20 advantage in shots and more than doubled up the Fords in shots on goal (21-10). The Diplomats also held the overall team advantage in both draw controls (14-12) and ground balls (19-12). Sara DiGiovanni made four saves to pick up the win before Rachel Jones closed out the victory in goal. In addition to her two goals, Lambeth led the hosts with five draw controls. Belle Dintino led the ground ball effort by scooping up four GBs. She and Megan Bizub both caused two turnovers during the winning effort.
Following back-to-back nationally-ranked wins at home to gain the inside track to hosting the Centennial Conference Tournament, the Diplomats will be on the road for a pair of games this coming week as they travel to Rowan on Wednesday, April 9 to conclude the non-conference portion of the regular season schedule before a trip to conference foe Dickinson next Saturday.
