#1 Salisbury (9-1) at #3 Franklin & Marshall (8-0)
Mar 29, 2009#1 Salisbury (9-1) at #3 Franklin & Marshall (8-0)
Sunday, March 29, 2009 | North Campus Athletic Field | Lancaster, Pa.
Live Stats: http://offsides.fandm.edu/lax/xlive.htm
Live Video: http://www.b2livetv.com/partner_members.asp?id=15
The Coaches: Both coaches represent their alma mater in Sunday's showdown. Jim Nestor (Salisbury '90) is in his eighth season at the helm for Salisbury. He has rolled up an impressive 125-18 record in that time. He was 73-20-1 in six years at Gannon, leaving him with a career record of 198-38-1. He is a six-time CAC Coach of the Year, and his players have produced a bevy of postseason honors.
On the opposite bench, Lauren Paul (F&M '03) is in her first season as a head coach. She has an 8-0 record thus far. She replaced another F&M alumnae, Anne Phillips '80. Paul was the first player in the program's history to score 100 goals and register 100 assists in her career. The Baltimore native recorded 139 goals, 103 assists, and 242 points on her way to becoming a two-time All-American. Paul's most indelible impression on the program may lie in the fact that she is the origin of "YEER", the battle cry that has morphed into the symbol of Franklin & Marshall's women's lacrosse tradition.
Franklin & Marshall's Last Game: No. 3 Franklin & Marshall held a 14-5 lead at the half en route to a 19-8 Centennial Conference (CC) win at Ursinus on Saturday. Jen Pritchard led the charge with four goals, resetting the Diplomats' (8-0, 3-0 CC) record for career goals in the process.
Salisbury's Last Game: Hours after the Salisbury University women's lacrosse team took over the top spot in the Division III rankings the Sea Gulls suffered their first loss of the season. No. 8 Colby College scored a last second goal to upset No. 1 Salisbury, 15-14, on Tuesday afternoon at Sea Gull Stadium.
This is the first loss at home for the Sea Gulls since they lost a NCAA tournament game at the end of the 2006 season to The College of New Jersey, a streak of 32 consecutive games. In fact, the last time the Sea Gulls lost a regular-season game at home occurred seven seasons ago, a streak of 45 straight games, when SU lost 13-10 to The College of New Jersey on March 15, 2003. The Colby setback also ends Salisbury's 31-game regular-season winning streak that began back at the start of 2007 season.
The Last Meeting: In a rematch of the 2007 National Championship game and a battle of the top-ranked women's lacrosse teams in Division III, No.2 Salisbury came out blazing and finished strong to upset No. 1 Franklin & Marshall 9-7 in non-conference action on Saturday.
The Sea Gulls (13-0) jumped out to a quick 6-1 lead to start the first half, before being held scoreless for over 28 minutes and then ending the game on a 3-0 run to remain undefeated on the season while snapping the Diplomats' (7-1) 28-game winning streak.
Jess Chmielewski tallied a team-best two goals and one assist, while Sue Ackerman and Kim Cudmore each netted a pair of goals for Salisbury. Sonja Stuart made 12 saves on the afternoon, including three stops on free-position attempts in the second half.
Sarah Meisenberg led the attack with a game-high six points, recording three goals and three assists. Jen Pritchard also added a hat trick and Lidia Sanza made eight saves.
Heading into the contest scoring 20.2 goals per game, the Sea Gulls were held to just nine goals but that was all they needed to collect their 13th straight win.
Series Record: Salisbury leads the series 5-2 with both F&M wins coming in the 2007 Championship season. The Diplomats won the regular season meeting 8-7 at Sponaugle-Williamson Field, and then wrapped up the 21-0 NCAA Championship season with an 11-8 win over the Gulls.
Busy Stretch: Today's game is Franklin & Marshall's sixth in 11 days.
The Remaining Unbeatens: 12 Division III women's lacrosse teams remain unbeaten as of Friday. Only five of those teams have played five or more games: Franklin & Marshall (7-0), Gettysburg (7-0), Puget Sound (6-0), Stevens Institute of Technology (6-0), and TCNJ (5-0). William Smith and Fredonia State are both 3-0. Alfred, St. Joseph's (Maine) and Worcester Polytechnic Institute are all 2-0. Medaille is 1-0.
New Career Goal Leader: 222. Jen Pritchard scored her 222nd goal during Saturday's game at Ursinus. Pritchard's third goal of the game moved her to 221 in her career, tying her with Laurern Petrella '94. She completed the hat trick with 17:29 left in the first half. Nine minutes later, Pritchard owned the record outright, dumping in her 222nd career goal, fed to her by the Diplomats' all-time assist leader, Shannon Summers.
New Career Assist Leader: With her second assist in the win over McDaniel, Shannon Summers became the College's career assists leader with 108. She passed Alexis O'Meara who owned the record at 107 since her graduation in 2005. Only three Diplomats have ever reached the 100-assist mark in their careers: Summers, O'Meara and Lauren Paul.
Summers Seven Makes her Sixth: With her touchdown and extra points worth or goals and assists on Saturday, Shannon Summers moved past her coach and Sarah Reigner '99 in the career points column. Summers now has 244 points, 22 less than Pritchard, currently in fourth place.
Pritchard in Control: Pritchard reached 200 career draw controls in the win over McDaniel.
Working on 400: Diplomats keeper, Lidia Sanza, became the eighth F&M goalie to reach the 300 saves plateau. The junior needs 42 saves to tie Audra Krupp '99 for seventh on the career saves list. She is 61 away from her predecessor, Kamissa Mort '06 and 77 away from Natasha Faill '91, who passed 383 of the 504 tests thrown her way.
The Waiting is the Hargest Part: Junior, Blake Hargest, needs two assists to join Summers, O'Meara and Paul in the 100-assist club. She joined the 100-goal club in the win over Union. She became the 12th Diplomat to reach the 200-point plateau in Wednesday's win over McDaniel.
Meisenberg on the Mend: The Diplomats did without Sarah Meisenberg in the McDaniel game on Wednesday. The senior is likely to see little action on Saturday as well. She is four points away from breaking into the top ten at Franklin & Marshall. She owns 204 points in her career for 11th place overall. Kristen Foster is 10th with 208.
Big Rhodey: Salisbury University junior attacker Beth Rhodey was named the Division III Nike/Inside Lacrosse Player of the Week on Tuesday for the week of March 22. The Fallston, Md., native helped the Sea Gullspick up a pair of non-conference victories the week prior. Then second-ranked SU defeated previous No. 1 Hamilton College, 12-9, in San Antonio, Texas, on March 18. Rhodey scored a season-high five goals on the day including the game-winner.
More Post-Hamiltonian Honors: Another Salisbury University lacrosse player was also named Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) player of the week. Junior attacker Kim Cudmore was named Division III South Region Offensive Player of the Week in the wake of the Hamilton win.
Cudmore helped No. 2 Salisbury to a 2-0 record that week, including a 12-9 victory over defending NCAA Division III national champion Hamilton College. For the week, the junior poured in seven goals, seven assists and scooped up seven ground balls. She paced Salisbury with one goal and two assists in its 12-9 win over top-ranked Hamilton on March 18. The Bel Air, Md., native then posted a career-high 11 points on six goals and five assists in SU's 23-13 victory over Roanoke on the road on March 21. In the victory over the Maroons, her goal, assist and point totals were the highest for any Sea Gull this season. She leads SU on the season in points (55), goals (18) and assists (24).
