The Franklin & Marshall women’s lacrosse team won its ninth Centennial Conference Championship in program history with a thrilling 15-14 win at Gettysburg on Sunday. With the victory, the No. 10 Diplomats avenged their regular season result against the No. 8 Bullets and secured the Centennial Conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. All nine of F&M’s Centennial Conference Championships have come since the 2007 season, including two of the past three years.

Gillian Brennan was named the Centennial Conference Tournament MVP as she scored four goals and assisted on two more during the championship game, with her efforts being aided by hat tricks from Lydia Cassilly and Lauren Pittman. Seven different players in total scored during the win as F&M used a 7-3 fourth quarter advantage to complete the thrilling come-from-behind win in which they did not lead until the 9:51 mark of the fourth quarter.

The Diplomats found themselves down 6-2 after 15 minutes as Sydney Lowe and Maddy Birch opened up the scoring for F&M. Strong defense got F&M back into the game as it held Gettysburg scoreless during the second period while goals from Brennan and Lowe got the score to 6-4 at the break.

Cassilly, Adde Hollander, Lane Lambeth, and Pittman all added their name to the score sheet during the third quarter, but Franklin & Marshall was still facing an 11-8 deficit with just over 15 minutes to play.

Franklin & Marshall quickly closed that remaining gap with a four-goal surge to start the fourth quarter. Cassilly opened the scoring during the final period with her goal at the 13:34 before Brennan scored just 14 seconds later to bring her team within a single goal. The Cassilly-Brennan scoring combination continued to work as Cassilly knotted the game at 11-all with 11:16 in regulation before Brennan gave F&M its first lead of the day, 12-11, with 9:51 to play following her free-position shot.

The Bullets were not going to go away without a fight on their home field as they scored three of the next four goals and were holding a 14-13 advantage after a goal at the 5:24 mark. Things certainly were not made easier on the Diplomats when they were issued a green card and yellow card in short order, but that made little difference to Brennan as she tied the game at 14-all with 3:06 left in regulation despite Franklin & Marshall having one less field player.

Gettysburg won the ensuing draw, but goalie Alyssa Moran came up huge with one of her nine saves on the afternoon to gain the possession back. Despite losing the ball in transition, Belle Dintino restored order with a caused turnover that came with just two minutes to play before Pittman scored the eventual game-winning goal with 1:04 showing on the clock.

Franklin & Marshall was forced to play defense again as the Bullets gained control off the draw, but one final save from Moran with five seconds left in regulation time let the celebration ensue inside her own circle as the Diplomats put the finishing touches on the 15-14 championship victory.

Both teams finished the game with 23 shots on goal, with one more save from Moran proving to be a huge difference in the final box score. The F&M defense caused eight turnovers – including two each from Ellen Kelly and Lane Lambeth. Lambeth also led the team with four ground balls. Megan Bizub had a huge day on the draw controls, winning six of those restarts for the Diplomats.

With its spot in the 2023 NCAA Division III Women’s Lacrosse Tournament now secure, the Diplomats await their opening weekend opponent as the selection show is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Monday morning. It will air live on NCAA.com.