Release courtesy of Franklin & Marshall Athletic Communications
CARLISLE, Pa. – Franklin & Marshall's men's lacrosse team claimed the 2021 Centennial Conference Championship in outright fashion with a 20-9 victory over Dickinson on Thursday night. The Diplomats (7-0, 6-0 CC) had already locked up the Centennial Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with this past weekend's win over Gettysburg. F&M will now enter the NCAA Tournament undefeated after its perfect regular season that currently has the team ranked eighth in the country. The Centennial Conference Championship is the second in program history for the Diplomats after they won their first Centennial Conference title in 2017.
Franklin & Marshall won each of the four quarters, building its lead throughout the contest. Blake Target and A.J. Rigsby both scored five goals and dished out one assist to the lead the scorers. Nevertheless, it was Luke Keating who put the offense in motion most of the night. In addition to scoring four goals, Keating tallied seven assists for a career-high 11 points. His seven assists are the fourth-most in a single game in program history. That total is the most for an F&M player since Chris Mergardt had nine assists during the 1995 season in a contest also against the Red Devils. Keating's 11 points were also the most since that same game when Mergardt finished with 13 points.
The Diplomats never trailed on Thursday evening as Christian Sullivan scored his first of two goals during the opening period less than two minutes into the contest. Sullivan also scored with just over a minute remaining in the first quarter as the Diplomats led 5-2 after 15 minutes. Blake Target also found the back of the cage early in the contest while Rigsby put home a pair of tallies in the first quarter.
F&M's biggest advantage came during the second period as the Diplomats outscored the Red Devils 7-3 over those 15 minutes. Rigsby scored just 58 seconds into that quarter to record a hat trick just 15:58 into the contest. Keating scored his first two goals of the night and dished out five assists in the second quarter alone as he had eight points at the end of the first half. Target was the beneficiary of three of those helpers as his three second quarter goals came in a span of 3:05 to help the Diplomats carry a 12-5 lead into the half.
The Trio of Keaing, Rigsby, and Target accounted for all three F&M goals in the third before Keating finished his offensive outburst by scoring a goal that came with just over 13 minutes left in regulation. For good measure, the Diplomats finished the contest on a 4-0 run. Rigsby beat the defense one last time while Will DeMuth and Colin Hueston both poured in their first goals of the evening. Will Mollihan added his second of the night as F&M prevailed by the 20-9 final.
Franklin & Marshall was very efficient in its shooting as both sides totaled 37 shots. However, the Diplomats scored on 20 of their 25 shots on goal while the Red Devils put just 18 of their 37 shot attempts on target. F&M goalie Eric Mueller made nine saves in the contest. Mueller was aided by a defensive unit that caused nine of Dickinson's 14 turnovers. Noah Isaacson, Erich Della Volpe and Holden Kammerer each had a pair of caused turnovers for F&M.
Men's lacrosse will now wait to hear about its opening opponent in the NCAA Tournament as the Division III Men's Lacrosse Selection Show will be streamed this Sunday, May 9 at 9 p.m. Fans can watch the live stream of that selection show on NCAA.com.