LANCASTER, Pa. -- #3 Franklin & Marshall rolled out to a five-goal lead and never looked back during a 17-8 win over #4 College of New Jersey. Ashley Bevington was one of four Diplomat sharpshooters (13-1) to record a hat trick on the night, scoring a pair in the opening salvo. F&M connected on 17 of the 25 shots fired in the game.

Bevington's first goal of the night was the 100th marker of her career, giving F&M an early 3-0 lead on the Lions (10-2). 17 seconds later she found the net again. Bevington's final goal of the night came with 3:04 in the first half, giving the Diplomats a 9-3 lead after 30 minutes. Bevington's final tally held-up as the game-winning goal. F&M scored on each of its first four shots and five of the first six in the game.

TCNJ won the opening draw and fired four shots in Lidia Sanza's direction on their first possession. Sanza turned away the first pair of her 15 saves on the evening during the Lions first foray. She ended the extended possession by stopping the first of the Lions' 17 free position attempts in the game. The Diplomats carried the clear and Sarah Meisenberg got the Diplomats on the board with the first F&M shot of the night at 26:25.

Bevington controlled the ensuing draw and fed it to Blake Hargest behind the net, where she found a cutting-then-leaping Jen Pritchard to make it 2-0, 20 seconds after F&M first got on the board. Bevington then netted her pair before Hargest set up Meisenberg to make it 5-0 eight minutes in.

Pritchard finished the night with five points, including a team-high of four goals. That total was matched by Meisnberg's four. Bevington and Meredith Lussier each finished with three goals. All of Lussier's goals came on eight-meter shots.

The game was marred by 68 fouls with F&M being whistled 43 times. The whistles resulted in 24 free position attempts. F&M cashed in on six of its seven tries, while the Lions scored on four of their 17. Alison Jaeger scored the first of her five goals on the night with a FPS marker with 15:15 left in the first half making it a 5-1 contest. That was quickly answered by Lussier's first.

Two ridiculous runs by Jaeger surrounded another Lussier free position tally. Jaeger weaved through copious amounts of traffic on both counts for that quick pair. She rolled up five of the Lions' eight goals on the night, and was the only TCNJ player to score a non-free position goal. Jaeger picked up three ground balls, a draw control and caused a turnover for the Lions' cause.

Despite having the upper hand in nearly every statistical category, the Lions were never closer than five goals in the final 35:37 of the game. TCNJ outshot their hosts 36-25, collected 14 ground balls to F&M's 10, and watched the Diplomats turn the ball over 13 times while losing it only seven.

Franklin & Marshall returns to action on Saturday against Haverford.

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Lancaster, PA -- The College of New Jersey held a double-figure advantage in shots on goal, but third-ranked Franklin & Marshall College made the most of their chances scoring a 17-8 win over the fourth-ranked Lions on Friday in Lancaster. TCNJ is now 10-2 on the season with both loses coming at the hands of teams ranked in the top five nationally. With the win, the Diplomats improved to 13-1.

The game was a rematch of the 2008 NCAA Division III National Semifinal that saw the Diplomats hold off the Lions, 14-12. The Lions outshot F & M by a margin of 36-23, but the hosts were able to grab a 9-3 lead at the half and they never relinquished it.

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2009-04-18