Franklin & Marshall College

BALTIMORE, Md.- A 61st-minute Blue Jays strike proved to be the only goal in Friday's Centennial Conference Tournament Semifinal match, as the Franklin & Marshall women's soccer team (8-5-4, 5-3-2 Centennial Conference) fell to top-seeded No. 13 Johns Hopkins (14-1-2, 9-1 Centennial Conference), 1-0.

Lucy Fleming made three saves in her final appearance for the Diplomats, while Meg Balerna led the team with two shots in a game where each side registered only six shots and four shots on target apiece. 

The first half saw just two chances from each team. Hopkins registered the first shot in the eighth minute of the game, forcing Fleming to make a diving save at the bottom-right corner on an outside-the-box shot. F&M followed this with a pair of attempts in the next ten minutes from Katherine Finnerty and Balerna. The last shot of the half came from the Blue Jays on an attempt for 25 yards away that sailed right of the top-right corner by a few yards.

The Blue Jays generated their best chance of the game so far just three minutes into the second half. A centerback played a ball from midfield that was won by a dispossession at the right edge of the box. The Hopkins player then cut inside, but the chance from 15 yards away went low and wide of the far post. Ashley Inacio followed that with a high-paced set piece shot from 35 yards away in the 53rd minute but it went directly to the keeper for a catch.

Johns Hopkins found the game-winning goal in the 61st minute on a sequence started by another line-breaking ball over the top. The headed F&M clearance fell to a Blue Jays player outside the box who feinted to create space for a left-footed curler that landed in the top-left corner from 25 yards away.

F&M pushed for a game-tying goal in the remaining time, registering three shots in the final half hour while keeping the Blue Jays to one attempt. The best chance came in the 67th minute as an intense counterpress forced a loose pass that fell to Emerson McDonald, but her pacey first-time shot from 20 yards away went directly to the goalkeeper.

The Diplomats end 2026 with an 8-5-4, 5-3-2 Centennial Conference record. The 0.47 goals against average is the program's second best, trailing only 2021's average of 0.46 goals conceded per contest. This marked the fourth-consecutive appearance in the conference semifinal and the sixth-consecutive season appearing in the tournament.