Mike Rama, Franklin & Marshall
CARLISLE, Pa. – Mike Rama struck with under two seconds left in the game to deliver No. 15 Franklin & Marshall a 9-8 victory over No. 13 Dickinson in Centennial Conference (CC) men's lacrosse action Wednesday evening. The Diplomats improved to 12-2, 7-0 CC and secured the top-seed in next week's CC Playoffs while the Red Devils dropped to 11-3, 5-2 CC.
F&M trailed 8-6 with just five minutes left to play and answered with three straight to close out the game. Jarrett Donaghy scored at 4:13 to bring F&M within a goal and George Briggs struck with just under three minutes to play to tie the game at 8-8. The teams exchange possessions over the final three minutes with F&M getting the ball with under 50 seconds left to play.
After a timeout, F&M fired off a shot that went wide. Rama possessed the ball with just eight ticks on the clock and ran around to the right of the goalie and fired a low rising shot that found the back of the net for the game-winner.
Dickinson controlled the game early and took a 4-0 lead midway through the second quarter. Rama netted a goal at 2:40 to make it 4-1, but the Red Devils put one through with four seconds left and took a 5-1 lead into the break.
The Diplomats started the third with a 3-0 run to come within a point, 5-4, with 5:19 remaining in the third. Sean Rogers started the run at 12:30, followed by a goal from Rama at 6:51 and Tucker McBride netted the final point of the run at 5:19.
An early goal in the fourth put the Red Devils up 7-5 and Rogers made it a one-goal game, 7-6, at 9:31. Dickinson scored at 5:19 and went up 8-6 which set up F&M final run.
Rama led with three goals while Rogers and Briggs both netted two for F&M.
Nick Zenobio caused two turnovers with two ground balls and Andrew Rose ended the game with seven ground balls after winning 13-of-21 face offs.
Scott Hatch turned away seven shots and improved to 12-2, while Andrew Jones took the loss with 16 stops.
F&M held a 42-24 edge in shots and went 13-for-15 in clear attempts.