THE FACTS
No. 10 Franklin & Marshall (15-4) 15, No. 8 Gettysburg (15-4) 14
What: Centennial Conference (CC) women's lacrosse tournament championship game
When: Sunday, May 7
Where: Gettysburg, Pa.
THE SKINNY STORY
Gettysburg, ranked eighth in the latest IWLCA national poll, fell to tenth-ranked Franklin & Marshall in a back-and-forth Centennial Conference Championship game, 15-14. The game saw four ties and three lead changes, but the Diplomats outscored the Bullets 7-3 in the final quarter to secure the win.
THE LEADERS
•
Emily Crane (Upper Montclair, N.J./Montclair) led all scorers with five goals, to go with two ground balls and one caused turnover.
•
Julia Daly (McLean, Va./McLean) scored three goals, had three ground balls, and three caused turnovers.
FOR THE FOES
• Gillian Brennan led the Diplomats with four goals and two assists and was named the tournament's most valuable player.
THE REST OF THE STORY
• Gettysburg opened up a 3-0 lead in the first 4:13 of play, with goals by
Julia Daly,
Katie Fullowan (Lebanon, N.J./North Hunterdon), and
Gabi Connor (Haddonfield, N.J./Haddonfield Memorial). Franklin & Marshall broke through the shutout less than two minutes later, with back-to-back tallies by Sydney Lowe and Maddy Birch. After several turnovers by both teams,
Caroline Sullivan (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield-Ludlowe) found Daly for her second goal of the game, giving Gettysburg a 4-2 lead. Another goal by Daly and an unassisted tally by
Jordan Basso (Rye, N.Y./Rye) in the final four minutes of the first made it a 6-2 Bullets lead going into the second stanza.
• It was tournament MVP Gillian Brennan who found the back of the next first in the second quarter, driving in for an unassisted goal to cut the deficit to three. A Gettysburg penalty two minutes later gave the Diplomats a man-up opportunity, where Madison Bray found Sydney Lowe to bring Franklin & Marshall within two with 9:28 to play. Neither team could find the next in the final nine minutes of play, with both teams fighting hard and causing several turnovers to yield a 6-4 Bullets lead going into the break.
• Franklin & Marshall again scored the first goal of the quarter to start the second half, as Lydia Cassilly got past her defender for a solo goal to bring the Diplomats within one. Gettysburg responded by scoring their first goal since the first period, on a Fullowan free position shot. Two straight goals by Crane and Basso within 40 seconds once again put the Bullets out to a four-goal lead. Adde Hollander and
Kelly O'Connor (Livingston, N.J./Livingston) traded goals to maintain the four-goal differential, before Brennan dished to Lane Lambeth and Lauren Pittman scored unassisted to cut the deficit to two. The goals came within 50 seconds of one another. With three minutes left to play in the third, Crane scored another goal to bring the Bullets' lead back to three going into the final quarter.
• The Diplomats began the final 15 minutes by rattling off four straight goals within the first 5:09. Cassilly and Brennan both had two within the stretch, giving Franklin & Marshall their first lead of the game, 12-11. A Diplomats green card allowed Crane to convert a man-up opportunity to tie the game for only the second time. Lauren Pittman got the lead back for Franklin & Marshall only 48 seconds later, but again Crane had the answer, scoring on a man-up free position goal to tie the game again at 13 goals apiece, and then she finished a Sullivan feed just two minutes later to give the Bullets the lead again for the first time since 9:51 showing. Two Franklin & Marshall penalties gave the Bullets a two-player advantage, but it would be the Diplomats who scored a man-down goal, from the stick of Brennan, tying the game one final time at 14-14. Gettysburg tried another shot that was saved, before a turnover by each team led to a ground ball pickup by Franklin & Marshall keeper Alyssa Moran, and a goal by Pittman to break up the deadlock, 15-14 in favor of the Diplomats. Though the Bullets had one last good look at cage in the final 10 seconds, they could not find the equalizer, and Franklin & Marshall earned the championship win.
THE INSIDE STORY
• Franklin & Marshall earned their first Centennial Conference championship win since 2017.
•
Jordan Basso and
Katie Fullowan each scored two goals.
•
Gillian Cortese (Mount Laurel, N.J./Lenape) made eight saves in goal for the Bullets. Diplomats goalkeeper Alyssa Moran made nine.
• Franklin & Marshall narrowly outshot Gettysburg, 31-30, but each team had 23 shots on goal.
• Gettysburg held a 19-14 advantage in draw controls, but also had 13 turnovers to Franklin & Marshalls' 10.
NEXT UP
Gettysburg will await the NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Tournament Selection Show tomorrow morning to see if they have received an at-large bid into the tournament. The selection show is at 10:30 a.m.
