WEST PALM BEACH, Fl. – The third-ranked Franklin & Marshall women's lacrosse team scored a season-high 19 goals and held Division II Merrimack to five goals for the non-conference victory over spring break in West Palm Beach, Florida.

The win marks the second straight game the Diplomats (4-0) held an opponent to five goals or less. Lauren Ehrhardt (Westbury, NY/Kellenberg Memorial) led the offensive charge with a hat trick and two assists for a game-high five points. Sarah Meisenberg (Severna Park, MD/Severn) tallied one goal and three assists to hit the 200-point plateau of her career, finishing the day with 201.

Lidia Sanza (Cockeysville, MD/St. Paul's School for Girls) made a season-best 11 saves, including six in the second half that left the Warriors (0-2) scoreless.

It took less than five minutes for F&M to take a 4-0 lead on Merrimack. Blake Hargest (Cockeysville, MD/St. Paul's School for Girls) took just 23 seconds and a pass from Ehrhardt for a 1-0 edge. A minute later, Hargest returned to the favor to Ehrhardt before Ashley Bevington (Schwenksville, PA/The Hill School) hit for her first of three.

On the following draw control, Shannon Summers (North Wales, PA/The Hill School) won it for the Diplomats and Ehrhardt immediately scored for a four-goal advantage.

Lauren Leddy, who paced Warriors with two goals, scored on a free-position shot and Kelly Pasquantonio cut the lead to 4-2 with an unassisted goal at the 23:50 mark.

Over the next 22 minutes, F&M added nine more goals including two straight from Meredith Lussier (Radnor, PA/Radnor) to take a commanding 13-5 lead at halftime. Meisenberg finished a free-position shot before assisting Ehrhardt with 10:06 remaining to for her 200th career point.

Merrimack tallied its final goal of the game with 5:55 left in the first half thanks to Maddie Basile. From there, the Diplomats went on a 7-0 run, getting one more goal in the first half and six in the second for the 14-goal margin.

Jen Pritchard (Media, PA/Penncrest) reached 250 career points with her first goal of the day at 15:31 of the first half. She went on to record three more goals for a team-high of four goals. Freshman Erin Dunne (North Brunswick, NJ/North Brunswick Township) registered her first collegiate goal with an unassisted tally in the second half

The Diplomats return to action on Saturday against Bryn Mawr. Game time is 1:00 p.m.

2009-03-18