THE FACTS
No. 8 Gettysburg (12-2, 6-0 CC) 12, No. 2 Franklin & Marshall (12-3, 6-1 CC) 11
What: Centennial Conference (CC) women's lacrosse game
When: Wednesday, Apr. 17
Where: Gettysburg, Pa.
THE SKINNY STORY
Gettysburg, ranked eighth in the latest ILWomen/IWLCA Div. III coaches' poll, had the final say in a back-and-forth battle for the top spot in the Centennial Conference, knocking No. 2 Franklin & Marshall from the ranks of the conference unbeatens and halting its seven-game winning streak with a 12-11 victory.
THE LEADERS
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Maddie Passarello (West Chester, Pa./Unionville) led the attack for the Bullets with a career-high four goals.
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Gillian Cortese (Mount Laurel, N.J./Lenape) backstop the defense with a career-best 15 saves.
FOR THE FOES
• Lauren Pittman paced the Diplomats (12-3, 6-1 CC) with five goals.
THE REST OF THE STORY
• After seven minutes of neither attack being able to get a good look at the cage, Lauren Pittman broke the scoreless drought with an unassisted tally at the 7:55 mark.
Maddie Passarello had the response for Gettysburg more than five-and-a-half minutes later. Lane Lambeth finished a quick pass from Claire Book to put Franklin & Marshall back in front with 1:34 showing but
Julia Daly (McLean, Va./Langley) finished top-shelf to once again draw the hosts even with 40 seconds to play in the opening period. In the waning seconds of the opening quarter,
Caroline Sullivan (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Ludlowe) streaked up field and – from just over midfield – connected with
Jordan Basso (Rye, N.Y./Rye) at the top of the arc. Basso, corralled the low pass and fired it home with 0.8 seconds on the clock for a 3-2 lead after one quarter.
• A Lambeth free-position tally knotted the game 30 seconds in to the second period before Gillian Brennan and Pittman finished solo runs to take a 5-3 lead with 10:48 to play.
Julie Breedveld (Wayne, Pa./Radnor) drove the lane and found paydirt for the first time with 4:28 showing before Daly converted an eight-meter shot from the left side 49 seconds later to tie the game.
Emily Crane (Montclair, N.J./Montclair) hit Breedveld with 9.3 seconds showing to put the Bullets back in front by one at the break.
• Lydia Cassilly needed just 48 seconds of the second half to tie the game for the fifth time. Two Passarello tallies, however, in a 3-minute, 11-second stretch off feeds from Sullivan and Breedveld gave Gettysburg its first two-goal lead of the day with 8:20 to play. Pittman closed the margin to one with 4:28 showing but Crane won the ensuing draw control and found a wide open Basso, who didn't miss to push the advantage back to two 18 ticks later. Cassilly connected with Lambeth in the final 16 seconds of the quarter to once again make it a one-goal game.
• Two Pittman tallies in the first 2:44 of the final quarter turned the one-goal deficit into a one-goal lead. Passarello, however, had the answer, taking a pass from
Ella Patterson (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) and finishing with 10:32 on the clock. Cassily found Bray for an 11-10 Diplomat edge with 4:41 remaining before Sullivan finished through contact from the right side for the eighth deadlock of the day with 3:15 to play. Franklin & Marshall won the ensuing draw but a turnover in front found its way to the stick of
Gillian Cortese in the crease and the senior netminder started the clear with just over two minutes to play. After a free-position attempt was awarded to
Meghan Crane (Montclair, N.J./Montclair) on the left side of the fan, the freshman opted to pass back to Sullivan behind her. Sullivan nearly immediately found Basso cutting in front of the cage, hit her teammate and Basso found the back of the net for the game-winner with 1:08 to play. The Diplomats, who had lost 17 of the first 25 draw controls in the game, once again picked up the loose ball. A game-tying attempt sailed wide with 37 seconds left and
Annie Nikolic (Paoli, Pa./Conestoga) had the backup behind the cage to give possession to the Bullets. After a timeout, Sullivan ran time off in the defensive end before Gettysburg successfully sent the ball up field as time expired for the win.
THE INSIDE STORY
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Emily Crane and
Lily Macatee led the way on the draw circle with seven and six draw controls, respectively.
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Jordan Basso finished with three goals while
Julie Breedveld and
Julia Daly had two each.
Caroline Sullivan added a goal and three assists while
Emily Crane had two helpers.
• Franklin & Marshall finished with a 38-29 advantage in shots.
• With the win, Gettysburg clinches a playoff berth in the six-team conference tournament. As the lone remaining undefeated team, the Bullets control their own destiny to be top seed and have the right to host throughout the tournament,
NEXT UP
Gettysburg returns to action at Ursinus on Saturday. Game time is 12 p.m.
