Excerpted from GoDiplomats.com, to view the full article, click here.
LANCASTER, Pa. – Franklin & Marshall suffered a heart-breaking 11-8 setback to No. 5 Lynchburg in men's lacrosse action Wednesday afternoon at Tylus Field. The Diplomats dropped to 6-7 while the Hornets improved to 12-2.
F&M took control early and jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter. Chad Gamble found Phil Gamble at 11:54 for the first score of the game and Riley Aviles connected with Sean Rogers at 8:45 for a 2-0 F&M edge. A little under three minutes later, Ben Ross found Rogers for his second score to give F&M a 3-0 lead heading into the second.
Lynchburg stepped up in the second with four goals to start the quarter. The Hornets scored two in the opening minute of the second and added two more 12 seconds apart starting at 6:19 and took a 4-3 lead. Philip Gamble found Ben Ross at 3:00 to tie the game at 4-4, but the Hornets answered 13 seconds later and went back up 5-4. F&M kept attacking and Chad Gamble tied the game with an unassisted score with a little over a minute left in the half, but the Hornets answered again with 30 seconds on the clock and took a 6-5 lead into the break.
The Diplomats started the third the same they started first with three straight goals. John Barney started the scoring when he buried a pass from Michael Bossidy and Philip Gamble fed Ross at 8:54 to put the Diplomats up 7-6. Bossidy connected with Chad Gamble at 4:54 and the Diplomats carried an 8-6 advantage into the fourth.
Lynchburg answered in the fourth with five unanswered goals to secure the win. The Hornets used a combination of dominance at the X and quick goals and tied the game at 8-8 at 13:05 in fourth. Lynchburg then took advantage of a personal foul penalty and scored back-to-back man-up goals in a 27-second span and took a 10-8 lead before sealing the victory with a tally with 2:23 left to play.
Chad Gamble put together an all-round great performance with four caused turnovers; two ground balls, two goals and one assist for the Diplomats. Philip Gamble was equally as impressive with two caused turnovers, a goal and two helpers. Rogers and Ross finished with a pair of goals and Barney added one while Michael Bossidy dished out two assists and Aviles picked up one helper for the Diplomats.
Wesley Rhudy and Sean Brown both caused two turnovers to pace the Diplomats' defense and Anthony Dougherty along with Connor Melillo finished with four ground balls apiece.
Timothy Mattessich took the loss with eight stops and dropped to 6-7 while Chris Hawley improved to 12-2 with seven stops.
F&M outshot Lynchburg 32-29 and forced 21 turnovers, but the Hornets went 18-for-22 from X and held a 28-23 edge in ground balls.
The Diplomats return to action on Saturday when F&M hosts Haverford at 6:00 p.m.