Box Score

 Stewart’s first goal of the day came in the middle of a 5-0 second-quarter run that put the Bullets (12-3, 8-0 CC) ahead to stay. The last of Harriman’s three tallies proved to be the game-winner when the Diplomats (9-4, 5-3 CC) rallied to within a goal in the final minutes.

 The two teams will meet again in the CC semifinals on Friday at Gettysburg. The Bullets earned the right to host their first conference tournament since 2002 with an unblemished 8-0 run through the CC regular season.

 Jon Sowanick (Bethesda, MD/Bullis) and Andrew Mavraganis (Lancaster, PA/Hempfield) added three points apiece in the win, Gettysburg’s 17th in its last 18 meetings with F&M.

 Steve Welsh paced the Diplomats with one goal and five assists, increasing his conference-best assist total to 44. Cyrus Adams scored a game-high four goals, including his 40th of the season.

 Trailing 7-5 early in the second quarter after a 4-0 F&M burst, the Bullets got goals from five different players to reclaim the lead.

 Chris Renzi (Fairport, NY/Fairport) drilled a shot past Mike Sartorius to start the rally with 10:48 left in the first half. Moments later, Brian Pryor’s (Dallas, TX/Dallas) interception on a broken clear led to an unassisted goal by Sowanick and a 7-7 tie.

 Mavraganis set up Stewart with 6:50 left in the quarter, putting Gettysburg ahead to stay. Two saves and an interception by Bullet goalie Pat Vaughan (Cockeysville, MD/Loyola Blakefield) kept the Diplomats at bay until Pryor notched his 50th point of the season with a goal off a feed from Renzi with 3:06 left.

 Renzi won the ensuing face-off and Kevin Freehill (Baldwin, NY/Baldwin) followed with the second of his two goals to make it 10-7 with 2:28 left before the break. Mavraganis assisted on the marker, closing a career-high, three-point day.

 Despite the momentum shift, Franklin & Marshall refused to go quietly.

Adams scored with 1:32 remaining in the half to snap the Gettysburg run, then tallied again early in the third quarter – both times on set-ups from Welsh – to cut the deficit to 10-9, the first of four occasions on which the Diplomats pulled within a goal.

Stewart gave the Bullets leads of 11-9 and 12-10 with a pair of unassisted goals. After Colin Hanley made it 12-11 with 9:49 remaining, Harriman provided crucial insurance on a dodge-and-shoot maneuver with 4:41 left.

Henry Kusjanovic cut the F&M deficit to 13-12 with 3:00 remaining. The Diplomats had an extra-man opportunity to tie the game in the final minute, but breakups by Matt Stanley (Fallston, MD/Calvert Hall College) and Vaughan in the waning seconds preserved the win.

 Both teams unleashed plenty of offense in the first 15 minutes with Franklin & Marshall taking a 6-5 lead out of the first quarter on a goal by Noah Wilkinsky with two seconds remaining.

 Vaughan finished with 12 saves while Sartorius made 14. With its final man-up flurry, the Diplomats outshot Gettysburg, 41-39.

 The two teams will square off in the CC semifinals for the third time in the conference tournament’s five-year history on Friday. The Bullets posted victories in 2001 and 2002.

Second-seeded Washington and third-seeded Dickinson meet in the other semifinal. Game times for Friday’s semifinals and Sunday’s championship game will be announced on Monday.
 

Goals

F&M: Cyrus Adams 4, Noah Wilkinsky 2, Kevin Kohl 2, Henry Kusjanovic 2, Steve Welsh, Colin Hanley.

Gettysburg: Chase Stewart 3, Jared Harriman 3, Jon Sowanick 2, Kevin Freehill 2, Andrew Mavraganis, Chris Renzi, Brian Pryor.
 
Assists

F&M: Welsh 5, Adams, Hanley, Wilkinsky.

Gettysburg: Mavraganis 2, Renzi, Sowanick.
 
Shots: F 41, G 39.

Ground Balls: F 37, G 29.

Goalies: F (Mike Sartorius – 60:00, 14 saves, 13 GA), G (Pat Vaughan – 60:00, 12 saves, 12 GA).

Extra-Man: F 0 of 2, G 1 of 1.

Face-Offs: F 16, G 11.

Clearing: F 15 of 17, G 16 of 20.

Penalties: F 1 for 1:00, G 2 for 2:00.