KING'S POINT, N.Y. – Sean Dougherty, the NCAA's leading scorer in 2006, put up a double hat trick that included the game winner to deliver the United States Merchant Marine Academy an 11-10 win over Franklin & Marshall's men's lacrosse team on Saturday. The win was the second of the season for the unblemished Mariners, while the Diplomats open the season with a record of 0-1.

A Dougherty accounted for three of the game's first four goals. Brendan Dougherty opened the game's scoring less than two minutes in. Kevin Kohl (Manasaquan, NJ / Loomis Chaffee) responded quickly with the first of his two goals for F&M to make it a 1-1 game before Sean Dougherty began his daylong assault on the F&M net. The first of his goals came precisely three minutes apart, and was followed by the first half of Ian Calley's pair to give the Mariners a 4-1 lead after a period.

The Diplomats held their hosts scoreless in the second stanza, while Mark Hild (Denver, CO / Denver East) went to work offensively scoring the first two of his team-high five goals on the afternoon to make it 4-3 heading into the half. The second Hild goal came while F&M was a man-down.

Four different Mariners accounted for USMMA's five third period goals making it a 9-4 game going into the final quarter. That's when F&M's offense finally began clicking.

Hild scored the first of his three goals in the period 33 seconds in, but was answered by the first of Sean Dougherty's goals in the final 15 minutes of the period. He capitalized on a 30-second man-advantage with 6:18 left in the contest to seal the Mariners' victory. A pair of Hild goals, the latter coming with 1:06 left to play, sandwiched a Brendan Kearny (Alexandria, VA / Bishop Ireton) tally, but the clock ran out on F&M.

Dougherty's extra-man goal was the only one of nine opportunities afforded to the Mariners. F&M only cashed in on one-of-six EMO's in the game. Sean Murphy (Baltimore / Gilman) was 10-of-13 on faceoffs for F&M, which held a 15-8 advantage on draws. Freshman keeper Dan Coffman (Annapolis, MD / Severn School) turned away 13 shots in the F&M cage, while his counterpart, John Pagano recorded an equal number of stops.

The Diplomats return to action next Saturday at Lycoming.

SCORE BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
Franklin & Marshall.  1  2  1  6 - 10
Merchant Mariners...  4  0  5  2 - 11

Franklin & Marshall SCORING:
GOALS: Mark Hild 5; Kevin Kohl 2; Brendan Kearney 1; Bobby Atkins 1; Mike Down 1.
ASSISTS: Mark Hild 1; Kevin Kohl 1; David Steiner 1.

Merchant Mariners SCORING:
GOALS: Dougherty, Sean 6; Calley, Ian 2; Dougherty, Brennan 1; Flannery, Jim 1; Merritt, Ryan 1.
ASSISTS: Dougherty, Brennan 3; Calley, Ian 1; Condron, Michael 1; Flannery, Jim 1.

Franklin & Marshall GROUND BALLS: Sean Murphy 6; Bobby Atkins 4; Mike Down 2; Mike Ohrnberger 2; Brian Williamson 2; Andrew Capone 1; Justin Gibides 1; Jamie Ozzano 1; Alex Wright 1.

Merchant Mariners GROUND BALLS: Condron, Michael 6; Merritt, Ryan 5; De Pol, Robert 4; Allen, David 3; Dougherty, Brennan 3; Dougherty, Sean 3; Flannery, Jim 3; Shannon, Tom 3; Armacost, Lyle 1; Buleza, Tony 1; Campbell, Kevin 1; Gray, Bryan 1.

SHOTS - Franklin & Marshall 34; Merchant Mariners 37.
SHOTS ON GOAL - Franklin & Marshall 23; Merchant Mariners 24.

PENALTIES - Franklin & Marshall 9/6:30; Merchant Mariners 6/5:00.

MAN-UP OPPORTUNITIES - Franklin & Marshall 1-6; Merchant Mariners 1-9.

TURNOVERS - Franklin & Marshall 6; Merchant Mariners 6.

FACEOFFS - Franklin & Marshall 15-23; Merchant Mariners 8-23.

CLEARS - Franklin & Marshall 11-14; Merchant Mariners 15-18.

GOALIES - F&M: Dan Coffman (60:00 minutes, 24 shots-13 saves, 11 GA); USMMA: Pagano, John (60:00, 23-13, 10).

2007-02-24