LANCASTER, Pa. – Blake Hargest (Cockeysville, MD/St. Paul's School for Girls) registered a season-high seven points with four goals and three assists to lead No. 3 Franklin & Marshall past Muhlenberg 18-4 in Centennial Conference (CC) women's lacrosse action on Wednesday.

The Diplomats (8-1, 4-0 CC) scored three more goals than their season average and held Muhlenberg (7-3, 2-3 CC) to their season low of just four goals to record their fourth conference victory.

Jen Pritchard (Media, PA/Penncrest) tallied a game-high four goals, while Shannon Summers (North Wales, PA/The Hill School) and Sarah Meisenberg (Severna Park, MD/Severn School) netted hat tricks. Meisenberg also added seven caused turnovers, six ground balls and four draw controls.

Muhlenberg's Rachael Goldstein was the only player with multiply goals, scoring one in each half. Allisyn Vachon made 15 saves in the loss.

Pritchard tallied three of her four goals in the first half to help F&M take a 10-2 lead at halftime. The junior attacker made it a quick 2-0 with a pair of free-position goals to start the game. The Mules managed to make it 2-1 off a Ruth Morrongiello goal at the 24:11 mark.

The Diplomats scored the next three goals to take a 5-1 edge midway through the first half. Meredith Lussier (Radnor, PA/Radnor) and Ashley Bevington (Schwenksville, PA/The Hill School) each posted an unassisted tally, before Sarah Veneski (Scranton, PA/Wyoming Seminary) finished a feed from Hargest.

Muhlenberg made it 5-2 on Goldstein's first goal, but F&M scored five straight to finish out the half. Hargest netted back-to-back goals in the burst. In the second half, the Diplomats added eight more goals, getting three from Summers and two from Meisenberg to post the convincing win.

F&M outshot the Mules 41-13 and held a 15-8 advantage in draw controls, while causing 23 of their 35 turnovers. Lidia Sanza (Cockeysville, MD/St. Paul's School for Girls) collected all six saves and picked up two ground balls for the Diplomats.

F&M returns to action on Saturday at Ursinus. Game time is 1:00 p.m.

2008-04-02