LANCASTER, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall women's lacrosse team officially marked its return to the NCAA Tournament with a 7-5 victory over Haverford as the Diplomats earned an automatic qualifying spot with their fourth straight Centennial Conference Championship. F&M's path to the Final Four in Rochester, New York begins this weekend as the Diplomats travel to Trinity (Conn.) for the first two rounds of the tournament.

Schedule
The Diplomats begin the tournament with a first round matchup against Neumann on Saturday, May 9 with a 1 p.m. draw in Connecticut. The winner of Saturday's game will face host Trinity (Conn.) on Sunday, May 10 at 1 p.m. in the single elimination tournament.

F&M in the NCAA Tournament
Playing the toughest schedule across the entire country, the Diplomats finished the year with the No. 22 ranking in the NCAA Power Index. Since the NCAA tournament expanded beyond 32 teams in 2014, the Diplomats have never had to play in an opening round game of the tournament. Under the current format, the Diplomats have always advanced to at least the second weekend of the tournament in eight of the last nine seasons. That success includes a pair of trips to the Four during the 2023 and 2024 seasons when this year's seniors were in their first two seasons with the team.

The 2026 Season to Date
The Diplomats are certainly battled tested as every non-conference opponent they faced was nationally-ranked. That tough slate included four top-five teams. F&M's non-conference highlight was a 7-6 victory against then-No. 9 Washington and Lee during the season opener. The Diplomats really hit their stride in Centennial Conference play as they went 7-1, including a 16-5 victory against then-No. 9 Gettysburg. After beating the Bullets for a second time in the conference semifinals, Franklin & Marshall avenged its only loss of the conference slate during the Centennial Conference Championship game.

Players to watch
Six Diplomats earned All-Centennial Conference honors, headlined by Belle Dintino earning the second Centennial Conference Defensive Player of the Year award of her career. Dintino is now just one of two Diplomats in program history to earn first-team All-Centennial Conference all four seasons after leading the team in ground balls (43) and caused turnovers (43). She further punctuated her season by being named the Centennial Conference Tournament MVP. Lauren Pittman (43 goals) and Devyn Crone (25g, 38a) were first-team All-CC selections on the attack. Pittman has also earned all-conference recognition during each of the past four seasons, including three straight first-team selections.

Sara DiGiovanni was named the second-team All-Centennial Conference goalie after making 131 saves and stopping 46.8% of the shots that she faced. She stopped over 55 percent of the shots that she faced when the Diplomats began conference play. Myranda Beebe as another threat to watch as she scored 24 goals out of the midfield on her way to second-team honors. Lucy Rogers made it six seniors on the All-CC team with honorable mention recognition behind career highs in ground balls (23) and caused turnovers (16).

Scouting Neumann
Behind the Atlantic East Coaching Staff of the Year, the Knights are headed to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history with a 9-8 record. They defeated Marywood 18-13 in the Atlantic East Championship game. Alena Catka is the player to watch on attack as she recorded 97 points this season (62g, 35a). The junior has registered hat tricks in all but three of Neumann's contests this season. The defense is led by Nora and Brighid Brady who were both first-team All-Atlantic East selections. As a team, Neumann is allowing 10.71 goals per game entering the weekend. The only common opponents between the two sides is matchups against Ursinus and Salisbury. Neumann fell to both of those opponents, while F&M was 1-1 against those two teams during the regular season.

Scouting Trinity (Conn.)
The Bantams finished ninth in the final NCAA Power Index rankings after a 12-5 season that resulted in a run to the NESCAC semifinals where they were defeated by top-ranked Middlebury. Samantha Hark and Grace Denious were first-team All-NESCAC selections, with Kesley Restivo and Emily Ambrozy claiming second-team honors. Restivo and Denious have both eclipsed 50 points this season. Hark leads the defense with 51 caused turnovers on the year. As a team, Trinity (Conn.) is allowing just 7.58 goals per game. With a win on Saturday, F&M would battle Trinity (Conn.) for the second time this season. When these teams met back on March 28 inside Shadek Stadium, the Diplomats were trailing just 6-5 at the break before the Bantams scored 11 of the final 13 goals in a 17-7 victory. That contest saw seven goals from the Bantams with a player advantage. Trinity (Conn.) was also a perfect 5-for-5 on free-position shots.

Up Next
The Diplomats need two wins this weekend to advance to the Sweet 16. The Sweet 16 and Elite 8 Rounds are slated for Saturday, May 16 and Sunday, May 17. Wesleyan (Conn.), Chicago, and Pomona-Pitzer are the other host sites this weekend in F&M's quadrant of the bracket.