GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Senior Zach Pucci (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) scored four goals for the second game in a row while junior Joe Brody (Bethesda, Md./Walter Johnson) handed out four assists as No. 6 Gettysburg closed out its regular season with a 12-5 victory over Franklin & Marshall College on Senior Day at a sweltering Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium.

With the win, Gettysburg's ninth in a row, the Bullets (11-3, 7-1 CC) finish second in the Centennial Conference and earned the two seed in next weekend's conference championship tournament, which will be held at Haverford College. Gettysburg will take on three seed Washington (Md.) College in the first round on Friday.

The Bullets improved to 7-0 at home this season and won their 13th straight home game. They have also won 32 straight home contests against conference opponents, dating back to the 2004 season.

The win was No. 325 for Gettysburg head coach Hank Janczyk, who is one victory shy of tying Jack Emmer for second on the NCAA men's lacrosse all-time wins list (all divisions). Gettysburg never trailed and outscored the Diplomats 10-1 over the opening 41:26.

Noah Wilkinsky led F&M (4-9, 2-6 CC) with two goals and two assists while Mark Hild added one goal and one assist.

Sophomore Andrew Ryan (Palm Beach, Fla./Westminster School [Conn.]) added two goals for the Bullets, and junior Josh Reichert (Englewood, Colo./Kent School) pitched in with one goal and one assist. Junior Kyle McGrath (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) dished out two assists.

Brody has now distributed 10 assists over the last two games. He had a career-high six helpers at Swarthmore a week ago. Senior Zach Furshman (Miami, Fla./Kent School [Conn.]) made seven saves and allowed just two goals over 52:36 of action. The Bullets, who outshot F&M 35-24, lost 14 of 20 face-offs but forced the Diplomats into 21 turnovers.

Gettysburg shut out F&M 3-0 in the first quarter, getting goals from Pucci, Reichert, and Ryan. The Diplomats got on the scoreboard when Wilkinsky scored just over a minute into the second quarter, but it would be over 25 minutes before F&M would strike again.

Senior Tom O'Donnell (Montgomeryville, Pa./La Salle College) and Pucci scored once each in the second quarter to put the Bullets up 5-1 at the half.

Gettysburg put the game out of reach in the third quarter, scoring five unanswered goals to open the stanza and assume its 10-1 advantage. Five different Bullets scored during the outburst, with Pucci and Ryan opening the spurt.

The hosts then reeled off three goals over a 1:33 span, when it received some offense from a pair of unlikely sources. Junior defenseman Tim Kurpis (Yorktown, N.Y./Yorktown) scored his first collegiate goal with 5:07 left in the quarter before senior long-stick midfielder Tommy Kehoe (Coraopolis, Pa./Sewickley Academy) added his third goal of the season just over a minute later. Sophomore Chris Cahill (Nashville, Tenn./Montgomery Bell Academy) capped the run at the 3:34 mark of the quarter.

Brett Leppert broke up the run for F&M with 1:41 to go, but sophomore Ben Engleman (Potomac, Md./Thomas. S. Wooton) answered with 19 seconds left to make it 11-2 at the end of the third quarter.

Pucci scored his final goal with 8:37 left in the game, tying his career-high set against Swarthmore last week. The Diplomats added three goals against senior goalies Charles Floeckher (Lutherville, Md./Boys Latin School) and John Gilfillan (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) over the final 4:48.

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2009-04-25