ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall women's lacrosse team closed the regular season with a 9-8 victory at Muhlenberg on Saturday. Battling through less-than-ideal conditions, the Diplomats persevered and officially secured the No. 2 seed in next week's Centennial Conference Tournament.
Seniors Lauren Pittman and Myranda Beebe tallied hat tricks against the Mules, while Rose Dunne, Svia Russman-Araya, and Devyn Crone all added to the winning effort on the attack. The Diplomats never trailed at Muhlenberg and were tied just once throughout regulation. F&M's defense came up big in the victory as it limited the hosts to just 16 shots on goal throughout the contest, but two free-position goals and two player-advantage goals kept the game tight.
It took until midway through the opening quarter before Crone finally cracked the scoreboard for either team. Just over a minute later, Pittman made it 2-0 Diplomats. Beebe started to heat up offensively during the second quarter as she tallied twice, with her second goal of the period putting her side up 5-4 at the break after Muhlenberg tied the game at four for the only level score all afternoon.
Beebe kept that momentum going in the third quarter as her goal on a feed from Pittman put the Diplomats up 6-4. Pittman then scored her second goal of the game which gave Franklin & Marshall its largest lead of the game at 7-4 heading into the fourth quarter. Russman-Araya and Pittman each scored during the fourth quarter to match the three goal lead before Muhlenberg tallied twice in the closing minutes, but never had a possession with a chance to tie.
In addition to finishing multiple offensive possessions, Pittman initiated several of them with eight of the team's 10 draw controls. Sara DiGiovanni made five saves in goal while Belle Dintino caused three turnovers. Sydney Birchard and Beebe led the team with three ground balls.
With Saturday's results finalizing the seeds for the Centennial Conference Tournament, the Diplomats will now host third-seeded Gettysburg on Friday, May 1. The start time of that Centennial Conference semifinal will be announced on Monday. Haverford earned the top seed in the three-way tie for first based on goal differential and will await the winner of fourth-seeded Swarthmore and fifth-seeded Washington College in the other semifinal on Friday.
