Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/14/17
From Press Release
Four Franklin & Marshall players scored three goals each as the No. 5 Diplomats rolled to a 17-7 victory over Cabrini in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday at Tylus Field.
F&M improved to 17-4 on the year and advanced to its fifth straight NCAA Regional Final, where the Diplomats will take on No. 10 Trinity next Saturday. The Cavaliers saw their season draw to a close with a 16-4 record.
Senior Jess Breuning (St. Hubert) and sophomore Liz Hoeffner recorded two goals each for Cabrini, while senior goaltender Megan Barlow (Academy Park) tallied a season high 13 saves for the Cavaliers (16-4).
Game time and location for next weekend’s Sweet 16 will be announced early in the week.
Cabrini stormed out of the gate with the game’s first two goals in the opening minutes to take a quick 2-0 lead. However, F&M answered in commanding fashion with five straight to pull ahead by a 5-2 margin. Maddie Hughes (Ursuline Academy-DE) began the run at 28:29 before Gabby Frank (Moorestown) and Paige Moriarty alternated scores. Frank notched two in the run and Moriarty tallied three with her last coming at 23:25.
A pair of Cavalier goals broke up the Diplomats streak and cut the deficit down to 5-4. Frank followed with her third of the half at 13:42, taking a feed from Hannah Serling to put F&M ahead by two. An up goal from Cabrini three minutes later once again made it a one-score game, but the Diplomats responded with three consecutive goals for the 9-5 advantage.
Hughes began the run with an unassisted marker at 7:02, followed by a pair of up goals, including Natalie Delinsky’s solo score with just 00:31 remaining until the break. Cabrini stole back some of the momentum heading into halftime, getting on the board and making the score 9-6 off a Liz Hoeffner tally with only eight seconds left.
Each team traded goals in the opening minutes of the second half before the Diplomats began to dominate, rattling off seven straight to end the contest. Serling kicked off the run by scoring off a free-position attempt at 19:45 and Bridget O’Donnell wrapped up the series of goals with an unassisted tally at 6:45.
Siobhan Burke paced the offense with three goals and an assist, while Frank, Moriarty, and Hughes all produced three-goal efforts for F&M. Delinsky was strong with a goal and two assists, while Serling finished with one goal and one assist.
Rachael Consoli caused three turnovers. Vanessa Budd and Taylor Freud garnered two each, while Consoli led the way with four ground balls and Katie Groenke was next with three.
Goalkeeper Danielle Harrington improved to 15-4 with the win. She registered six saves on the afternoon and became just the 10th player in program history to reach 300 for her career.