Franklin & Marshall College

GETTYSBURG, Pa.- The Franklin & Marshall men's soccer team (4-3-2, 1-3-1 Centennial Conference) fell narrowly short of a come-from-behind draw in Saturday's 2-1 loss at Gettysburg (7-4-1, 2-2-1 Centennial Conference) on Saturday evening. 

Nico Palacios had the lone goal for the Diplomats in the 83rd minute via an assist from Nick Lutsky.

Gettysburg scored their opener with just their second shot of the match in the 28th minute from a set piece. The Bullets won a free kick 30 yards from goal and to the left side of the half-circle. The free-kick taker curled a low ball around the wall where it found a Gettysburg player who beat his marker to the ball and redirected the ball to the bottom-left corner from 15 yards away.

Their second goal came inside of 90 seconds after drawing a penalty kick from a high counterpress. A Bullets attacker closed down Thomas Kaplan's attempted forward pass from inside the box. Dueling for the loose ball facing away from goal, he was deemed to have made enough contact to warrant a penalty, and the shot was converted into the top-right corner with pace.

F&M generated a few chances in the remaining 15 minutes of the first half but didn't find any clear-cut opportunities through the first 45. 

Palacios opened the second half by getting behind the defense with a ball over the top inside of the first minute, but his curling attempt from ten yards out missed wide. The Bullets pushed to add to their lead in the next ten minutes on a couple of chances. They first saw a cutback to the far post just miss the mark from six yards out, while Moreno made a stop two minutes later on a narrow-angled shot from 15 yards away.

It appeared for a moment that the Diplomats closed the gap to 2-1 in the 80th minute via Vahe Kassabian, although an error in the previous substitution window left 12 Diplomats on the field at the time of the goal. Lutsky won a Moreno goal kick entering the offensive third and played a through ball to Kassabian  who lost any defensive marker and beat the closing keeper at his near post before the goal was ruled out.

The Diplomats amended that error within three minutes with Palacios' goal. Aidan Koch began the sequence from midfield with a ball played down the right sideline to Lutsky. He fired a dangerous cross into the box, and the Gettysburg keeper's diving parry fell right to an unmarked Palacios in front of goal. He collected and fired to put the Diplomats within a goal of their opponents.

F&M pushed for the leveler in the remaining time, with their best chance coming in the 88th minute when a Kassabian cross found Alex Ardizzone at the far post, but his header narrowly missed the target.

Across the 90 minutes, F&M maintained a 9-7 shot advantage plus a 5-2 advantage in shots on goal over their opponents. 

The Diplomats are back in action in one week's time when they travel to Johns Hopkins on Saturday, October 17, at 1 p.m.