COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall women's lacrosse team scored the first six goals of Wednesday night's Centennial Conference contest and never looked back during an eventual 14-6 road win at Ursinus. The Diplomats were up by as many as seven goals and held their largest lead of the night at the final whistle as they now head into the final day of the regular season in a three-way tie for first place in the Centennial Conference standings.
Lauren Pittman scored three of her team's first six goals and finished with a team-leading four goals on the night. Sophie Harris added a hat trick of her own, with Rose Dunne, Alexandra Proefrock, and Myranda Beebe also tallying multiple times. Annie Marshall added three points with a goal and two assists, while Devyn Crone added two more assists.
Pittman scored her first goal of the night just 21 seconds into the contest as that was just a sign of things to come. Proefrock joined Pittman in scoring twice during the opening period to extend the lead to 4-0 after 15 minutes. Marshall scored just 1:13 into the second period before Pittman made it 6-0. Ursinus broke their nearly 20 minute scoreless stretch exactly one minute after Pittman registered her third goal, but goals from Dunne and Harris pushed the lead to 8-1. Dunne's goal with three minutes left in the opening half matched F&M's largest advantage of the night at the time before the visitors took a 9-4 lead into the locker room.
The Diplomats scored the first three goals of the second half and four of five overall during the third period, highlighted by a pair of scores from Beebe. Pittman and Harris also scored during that run that pushed the score to 12-4 and eventually 13-5. Beebe found Harris in the fourth quarter to set the final score at 14-6.
Franklin & Marshall scored on nine of its 14 shots on goal during the opening half and finished the contest with a 33-26 advantage in shots. Sara DiGiovanni matched the Bears' goalie with 11 saves on the night despite facing eight fewer shots on goal. Defensively, the Diplomats had another outstanding showing in transition as Ursinus was just 15-for-25 in its clearing attempts. Daryn Foertsch and Lucy Rogers tied for the team lead with four ground balls and two caused turnovers. F&M also held a 14-8 advantage in draw controls, with a team-leading six from Addy McIlvain. Pittman and Belle Dintino also grabbed the possession four times off the restart.
Women's lacrosse wraps up the regular season this Saturday, April 25 with a 1 p.m. start at Muhlenberg. With a bye secured in next week's conference tournament, the Diplomats can secure a home playoff game in the semifinal round with a victory over the Mules this weekend.
