April 26, 2008

Box Score

LANCASTER, Pa. - The seniors on the Franklin & Marshall men's lacrosse team went out with a bang in their final collegiate home game, leading the Diplomats to an 11-9 upset over No. 2 Gettysburg in Centennial Conference (CC) action on Saturday night.

Mark Hild netted a hat trick and added an assist for four points, while Marcozzi made 15 saves for the second straight game to help F&M (8-5, 4-4 CC) defeat the Bullets (13-2, 7-1 CC) for the first time since 2003. It also marks the first win in Lancaster since an 18-8 victory in 1990.

Drew Duckworth scored a game-high four goals and Zachary Furshman made 11 stops for Gettysburg.

The Diplomats never trailed, darting out to a 4-1 lead after the first quarter and never looking back to hand the Bullets their first conference loss of the season.

Brennan started things off with an unassisted goal in the opening quarter, but Gettysburg answered back with a goal from Tom O'Donnell off a Ben Sufrin pass to even the score.

F&M registered the next three goals to take the lead for good. Seniors Bobby Atkins and Brendan Kearney joined efforts to put the Diplomats ahead 2-1 and Noah Wilkinsky followed with a wrap-around goal for a two-goal lead at the 4:36 mark.

With 1:42 left in the first quarter, F&M had the ball in its possession and called a time out. The Diplomats were patient and waited until the last second to get their fourth goal thanks to Hild from Brennan for a 4-1 lead.

Both teams exchanged two goals in the second quarter, with the Bullets capitalizing on a man-up opportunity on a shot from Duckworth.

F&M took its biggest lead with consecutive goals to start the third quarter. Peter Moon finished a pass from Brennan, before the two switched roles and took advantage of the extra man to make it 8-3.

Gettysburg managed to outscore the Diplomats 5-3 in the final 15 minutes, six of which came in the final 4:28 of the game.

Sean Oliver scored twice for the Diplomats, including the first of the quarter. Hild assisted Oliver and then found the back of the net for an 11-6 lead with 2:17 on the clock. Down by five goals with 2:03 left, the Bullets did not let up and scored the final three goals, but it was not enough to keep its unblemished CC record.

F&M dominated on the face-offs, winning 16-of-23 and going a perfect 13-for-13 on clears. The Diplomats also held a 26-20 advantage in ground balls.

Atkins finished with two goals and Kearney added two assists to his one goal, while Sean Murphy won 13 face-offs and Justin Rayman tallied five ground balls.