WEST PALM BEACH, Fl. – Sarah Meisenberg (Severna Park, MD/Severn School) and Ashley Bevington (Schwenksville, PA/The Hill School) each scored four goals, including two in each half, to lead top-ranked Franklin & Marshall over 16th-ranked Wesleyan 17-9 in non-conference women's lacrosse action on Monday night.

With the game tied at 5-all, the Diplomats (4-0) reeled off five straight goals to end the first half and take the lead for good over the Cardinals (2-2).

Blake Hargest (Cockeysville, MD/St. Paul's School for Girls) handed out five assists and Jen Pritchard (Media, PA/Penncrest) turned in a hat trick for F&M. Weslyan's Jess Chukwu scored three times and Rachel Stemerman made 10 stops in the loss.

It didn't take long for the Cardinals to get on the board first, taking a 1-0 lead just 21 seconds after the opening whistle thanks to a goal from Allie Lynch.

Laura Ruppersberger (Baltimore, MD/St. Paul's School for Girls) converted a free-position shot and Shannon Summers (North Wales, PA/The Hill School) finished a feed from Hargest to give the Diplomats a 2-1 lead at the 23:45 mark.

At the 16:46 mark, Sarah Orkin scored her 11th goal tying the game for the first out of three times in the first half.

F&M scored two goals in 41 seconds for a 5-3 edge, but Chukwu came back with two of her own to make it 5-all. From there, the Diplomats tallied eight consecutive goals including three to start the second half for a 13-5 lead. Meisenberg recorded three goals and Hargest gave out four assists during that stretch.

The Cardinals got within six goals on two occasions, but would not get any closer in the final 15 minutes of the game. Summers scored on an 8-meter shot and then assisted Hargest for the last two goals of the game and a 17-9 margin.

Lidia Sanza (Cockeysville, MD/St. Paul's School for girls) stopped eight out of 19 shots for her fourth win in the cage.

F&M plays its final spring-break contest on Wednesday against Hamilton. Game time is 5:00 p.m.

Score by Period       1  2  Tot
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Franklin & Marshall. 10  7 - 17
Wesleyan University.  5  4 -  9
 
Franklin & Marshall SCORING:
GOALS: Sarah Meisenberg 4; Ashley Bevington 4; Jen Pritchard 3;
       Shannon Summers 2; Meredith Lussier 2; Mary Blake Hargest 1;
       Laura Ruppersberger 1.
ASSISTS: Mary Blake Hargest 5; Sarah Meisenberg 2; Shannon Summers 1.
 
Wesleyan University SCORING:
GOALS: Jess Chukwu 3; Allie Lynch 2; Sophia Kim 1; Sarah Orkin 1;
       Elise Kaye 1; Maggie Lile 1.
ASSISTS: Sophia Kim 2.
 
SHOTS BY PERIOD       1  2  Tot
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Franklin & Marshall. 18 16 - 34
Wesleyan University.  9 10 - 19
 
GROUND BALLS BY PRD   1  2  Tot
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Franklin & Marshall.  5  7 - 12
Wesleyan University.  5 10 - 15
 
DRAW CONTROLS BY PRD  1  2  Tot
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Franklin & Marshall.  9  8 - 17
Wesleyan University.  7  4 - 11
 
FREE-POSITION SHOTS    1     2     Total
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Franklin & Marshall.  2-3   2-3  -  4-6
Wesleyan University.  2-4   2-6  -  4-10
 
SAVES BY PERIOD       1  2  Tot
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Franklin & Marshall.  4  4 -  8
Wesleyan University.  5  5 - 10
 
FOULS BY PERIOD       1  2  Tot
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Franklin & Marshall.  7 11 - 18
Wesleyan University.  7  7 - 14
 
TURNOVERS BY PRD      1  2  Tot
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Franklin & Marshall.  6 10 - 16
Wesleyan University.  9 11 - 20

2008-03-18