Box Score

LANCASTER, Pa. – In another classic battle between the Centennial Conference's top women's lacrosse teams, No. 7 Franklin & Marshall College tallied the game's final two goals to get by No. 6 Gettysburg College 9-7 at Tylus Field on Wednesday night.

With the victory, Franklin & Marshall (14-2, 8-0 CC) clinches the top seed for the Centennial Conference Tournament set for April 30-May 1. Gettysburg (12-3, 7-1 CC) will enter as the second seed with one final game left on its regular season schedule against Bryn Mawr College (5-8, 0-8 CC) this Saturday, April 23, at 1 p.m.

Junior Hannah Church led Gettysburg with four goals, three of which came in the second half. F&M countered with four goals and an assist from Erin Dunne, while Lauren Selawski tossed in each of the game's final two scores.

After exchanging a pair of one-goal decisions last spring, Wednesday's affair had all the makings of another nail-biter. The Diplomats struck first just 69 seconds into the contest, but the visitors answered quickly with an unassisted tally by sophomore Lindsey Robinson at 27:58. Church was the next to score before freshman Katie Blumenthal capped the three-goal run at 14:24.

A low-scoring first-half was topped off by Franklin & Marshall's Erin Dunne at 12:47 which set the score at 3-2 heading into the break.

The second half opened with a flurry as the team's exchanged the first six goals. Gettysburg was first in the column with goals by freshman Kelsey Markiewicz and Church, but those were answered in kind by Dunne and Cat Serpe to keep the one-goal difference at 5-4.

Church's third goal of the game gave the visitor's a 6-4 edge with 22:12 left to play. The lead would evaporate thanks to Dunne, who accounted for two goals in a 3-0 run by the hosts, the last off a free-position attempt giving the Diplomats a 7-6 lead at 13:29.

Church turned in her fourth tally of the night to lock the game at 7-7 with less than 10 minutes remaining. The Bullets had a chance to jump into the lead after winning the ensuing draw control, but freshman Loren Pruitt's shot was saved by Diplomat keeper Kelsey Hoffman.

Franklin & Marshall turned the defensive stop into the go-ahead score as Lauren Ehrhardt found Selawski for the game's first assisted score at 7:34. After winning the next draw, the Diplomats struck again with Dunne tossing it to Selawski for an insurance goal at 6:49.

Junior Maddie Coleman kept Gettysburg's hopes alive with a pair of point-blank saves, but the Bullets were unable to answer on the other end and committed a pair of turnovers. F&M successfully avoided the Bullets' pressure in the final minutes to secure the win.

Gettysburg finished with an edge in shots (26-21), but the Bullets finished just 3-of-11 on free-position attempts. The hosts also led in ground balls 17-11, while the visitors held a 10-8 in draw controls.

Coleman finished with eight saves, three ground balls, and a pair of caused turnovers in Gettysburg's cage. Hoffman countered in F&M's goal with a dozen saves, including seven in the second half.