SCRANTON, Pa.—Franklin & Marshall withstood two second-half rallies to defeat The University of Scranton, 12-9, in men's lacrosse non-conference action Wednesday evening at Fitzpatrick Field.
Senior attacker Harrison Jones (Bedford Hills, NY/John Jay) and senior midfielder Kevin Kilpatrick (West Chester, Pa./Salesianum School) led the Diplomats with three goals apiece and senior midfielder James Wenk (Manhasset, NY/Manhassett) added a pair.
Franklin & Marshall, now 10-5, also received a goal and an assist from sophomore attacker Billy Kempner (Seaford, NY/Seaford), and a goal apiece from senior Andrew Setian (Williamsburg, Va./Walsingham Academy), and junior midfielders Sean Kenny (Gladstone, NJ/Bernards) and Jordan Barr (Hagerstown, Md./St. James School).
Junior midfielder Dillon McInerney (Hawthorne, NJ/Bergan Catholic) led the Royals with two goals and three assists, senior attacker Kyle Frank (Glen Arm, Md./Boys' Latin) finished with two goals and an assist, and senior attacker Daniel Slade (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks East) had two goals.
The Diplomats led from start to finish, building up an early 3-0 lead in the first period en route to a 7-2 advantage by intermission.
Scranton continued to chip away in the third period, opening with back-to-back goals by sophomore midfielder John Gregitis (Wayne, Pa./St. Joseph's Preparatory) and McInerney to cut the gap to 7-4. Frank and junior attacker Taylor Nelson (Chester Springs, Pa./Downingtown East) then scored within a three-minute span of each other after Barr added one for the Diplomats as Scranton whittled the lead down to 8-6.
F&M then regained the momentum on goals by Wenk and Kempner to take a 10-6 advantage into the fourth period.
Scranton made one more run in an effort to pull out the victory.
Trailing by five with seven minutes left, Frank, Slade and junior defender Tim Cleary (Shrewsbury, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) scored a goal apiece within a span of 1:32 to cut F&M's lead to 11-9 with three minutes remaining. Kilpatrick then set the final score with a goal with 31 seconds left.
The Diplomats held a 44-35 advantage in shots and a 49-42 margin in ground ball.
The loss was the second straight and fourth in its last five games for Scranton, which will host Catholic University in the Landmark Conference regular-season finale for both teams this Saturday, April 28, beginning at 2:30 p.m. at Fitzpatrick Field.
Junior goalkeeper Ben Worthington (Jenkintown, Pa./Archbishop Wood) finished with 12 saves for Scranton and senior Ben Feldberg (New York, NY/Dwight-Englewood) stopped seven shots for F&M.