Sean Rogers, Franklin & Marshall
LANCASTER, Pa. – Sean Rogers scored five goals to lead No. 12 Franklin & Marshall to an 8-5 win over Swarthmore in the Centennial Conference (CC) Semifinals. The Diplomats improved to 14-2 and will host No. 19 Gettysburg in the CC Championship on Saturday at Tylus Field. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m.
Harry Rice got the scoring started in the first, taking a feed from Kevin Mollihan to put the Diplomats up 1-0 with 12:06 left. Sean Rogers extended that lead to 2-0 with 1:31 left in the opener, with Mike Ramadishing out the assist to give F&M a two-goal lead after one.
The Diplomats pushed the deficit to 3-0 midway through the second as George Briggs recorded his 20th assist of the year, feeding Shane McBride with 8:24 on the clock. Rogers scored unassisted with 2:07 left in the half to make the lead 4-0 before the Garnet got on the board with 1:00 remaining to make the score 4-1 at halftime.
Rogers tallied his third of the day to put F&M up 5-1 at 12:25 in the third quarter. Swarthmore got its second of the day from Cam Marsh with 6:24 on the clock in the third, but Rogers responded by scoring on a feed from Mike Rama to return the deficit to four a 6-2. Still, it was the Garnet that entered the fourth with the momentum as two goals in the last 12 seconds of the third made the deficit just two.
Neither team was able to score in the early minutes of the fourth, with Tucker McBride pushing the deficit to 7-4 at 7:38. Rogers' fifth of the day made the score 8-4 with 2:22 left, only to have Swarthmore respond six seconds later through Austin Chang. However, it was too little too late as the Diplomat defense clamped down late to ice the 8-5 decision.
Rogers finished with five goals on nine shots, giving him 12 goals in two games against the Garnet this year. S. McBride, T. McBride, and Rice accounted for the other three F&M goals, while Kevin Mollihan recorded three helpers on the day and Rama dished out two assists.
Nick Zenobio and Anthony Dougherty caused two turnovers each to help pace the defense, and Scott Hatch (14-2) earned the win in net for F&M, making seven saves.
Swarthmore owned a 14-3 advantage in faceoff wins, but 21 Garnet turnovers bridged the gap for the Diplomats, who attempted 40 shots to 34 for Swarthmore.