GETTYSBURG, Pa. – The Gettysburg College men's lacrosse team will make its 13th consecutive appearance in the Centennial Conference (CC) championship tournament when it visits Franklin & Marshall College on Wednesday.

The third-seeded and 20th-ranked Bullets (9-6, 5-3 CC) will take on the second-seeded Diplomats (10-5, 6-2 CC) in the CC semifinals at 7 p.m. in Lancaster, Pa. In the other semifinal on Wednesday, top-seeded and second-ranked Dickinson College (15-0, 8-0 CC) will host fourth-seeded and 10th-ranked Washington College (12-3, 5-3 CC) at 4 p.m.

The two semifinal winners will meet in the conference championship game at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the highest remaining seed. The conference champion earns an automatic bid in the NCAA Division III tournament.

Gettysburg has won 13 Centennial Conference championships, including eight since the conference has used a postseason playoff to determine the champion.

Gettysburg and F&M will be facing off in the conference tournament for the first time since 2005. The Bullets hold a 3-0 lead over the Diplomats in the CC playoffs, with all three of their meetings coming in the semifinal round. In its first-ever Centennial Conference playoff game, Gettysburg defeated the Diplomats 9-7 in 2001 before prevailing 7-6 in 2002 and 7-5 in 2005.

The two teams just met this past Wednesday, with F&M rallying for a 12-11 victory in Lancaster. The Diplomats erased a five-goal halftime deficit and scored the game-winning goal with 17 seconds left.

The Bullets split their meetings with Dickinson and Washington this season. Gettysburg dropped a 12-10 decision to Dickinson on April 10 but defeated Washington 14-6 on April 20.

The Bullets have been led offensively by sophomore Robby Maddux (Baltimore, Md./St. Paul's), who leads the team and is tied for second in the Centennial Conference with 35 goals. Junior Martin Manilla (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) has added 22 goals and 23 assists, which is tied for third among the conference leaders. Other scoring threats include freshman Jameson Smith (Glen Ridge, N.J./Glen Ridge) with 23 goals and 16 assists, sophomore Bijan Firouzan (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) with 19 goals and 15 assists, senior Bobby DeWees (Wilmington, Del./Wilmington Friends School) with 21 goals and seven assists, and senior Evan Thomas (Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca) with 18 goals and seven assists.

Defensively, sophomore defenseman Alex Lanza (Cross River, N.Y./John Jay) and senior defenseman Matt Canter (Potomac, Md./Thomas S. Wootton) have led the way with 27 and 21 caused turnovers, respectively. Senior J.T. McCook (Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep) and junior Jon Maddalone (Newtown, Pa./Choate Rosemary Hall [Conn.]) have each seen significant time in goal. McCook has gone 5-5 with an 8.08 goals-against average and a 58.5 save percentage while Maddalone, who has started the last four games in net, is 4-1 with an 9.48 GAA and a 49.1 save percentage.

Senior Nick Avedisian (Laytonsville, Md./Bullis School) has taken the majority of Gettysburg's face-offs and won 51.2 percent (106-207) of his attempts while junior Wes Lincoln (McLean, Va./Landon [Md.]) has also seen significant time at the X, posting a 51.7 percent (46-89) mark.