Brittany Jorgenson, Franklin & Marshall
LANCASTER, Pa. – No. 3 Franklin & Marshall defeated Rhodes 21-3 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday afternoon at Tylus Field. The Diplomats improved to 18-2 and advanced to next weekend's regional semifinal and will take on Tufts, a 14-7 winner over Messiah, on Sunday at Tylus Field. Fredonia and Washington & Lee will face off in the other regional contest in Lancaster. Stay tuned to GoDiplomats.com for more game details later in the week.
Click here to view video highlights from the game.
Paige Moriarty paced the Diplomats with four scores and two assists while Grace Saliba handed out four helpers with two scores. Brittney Jorgenson scored three times and dished out three assists, Casey Madden had a pair of goals and two assists, while Gabby Frank had three goals.
Katie Groenke scored twice and Claire Jackson, Emily Everdell, Taylor Freud, Christie Huidekoper all tallied a goal. Hannah Serling had a goal and an assist and Claire Jackson, along with Stephanie Speese both finished with a helper.
F&M took control early and never looked back, jumping out to a 9-0 lead midway through the first half. Rhodes answered with a 2-1 run, before the Diplomats finished off the half with a 5-0 run. The Lynx struck first to start out the second and made it 15-3, but it was all F&M after that as the Diplomats finished the game with a 6-0 run.
Jorgenson had two turnovers to help pace the defense and Anastasia Mergner came away with four draws. Vanessa Budd, Katie Groenke and Taylor Freud all had three draws for the Diplomats.
Danielle Harrington picked up the win and improved to 9-1 and Sarah Daniels took the loss with six stops and dropped to 11-1.
F&M outshot the Lynx 34-4, had a 13-6 edge in ground balls and went 7-for-8 in clear attempts.