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LANCASTER, PA - For Franklin & Marshall College head men's lacrosse coach Bill Gorrow a playoff game in Chestertown, Maryland with the Shoremen of Washington College is nothing new. However, this time he will be on the opponents' sideline. Gorrow, who served as an assistant coach at Washington from 1981-83, will make his first post-season appearance in Chestertown as the visiting coach as the #8 nationally ranked Franklin & Marshall men's lacrosse team will face-off with the #5 Shoremen at 1:30 p.m. in the opening round of the Centennial Conference playoffs. The game will mark the second meeting between the two teams this year as the Shoremen escaped Lancaster with a 9-7 victory on April 5. The loss marked F&M's first of the season as the Diplomats concluded the regular season with an 11-2 record, 6-3 in Centennial Conference play. In their first meeting, the Shoremen used a pair of late goals by Brent Renner to stave off the Diplomats' upset bid. For F&M, Bas Solleveld (Jr., Glenmoore, PA/Shipley) and Steve Welsh (So., Lewes, DE/Cape Henelopen) scored twice, while Colin Hanley (So., Davidsonville, MD/DeMatha), Bryan Nolan (Sr., Scottsdale, AZ/Western Reserve) and Beau Smith (Sr., Baltimore, MD/Gilman) added solo goals for the Diplomats offense. In goal, Mike Sartorius (So., Summit, NJ/Summit) recorded 10 saves on 26 Washington shots, while the Shoremen's Rich Yost made eight saves on 29 Diplomats' shots. The game was a battle of two evenly matched teams as F&M jumped on the scoreboard first when Solleveld beat three turned the corner on the left side of the goal, and angled down the middle of the crease to split three defenders before unleashing a rising shot which found the back of the net for a 1-0 lead 2:07 into the game. Washington responded with back-to-back scores by Chris Edwards and Randy Vane with 11:53 and 10:10 left in the first period to take the lead. With 6:22 to go in the quarter, Hanley quickly tied the score as Yost came out of the goal mouth, but became entangled with a defender and three Franklin & Marshall College players in a scrum 10-yards in front of the empty net. After scooping the loose ball, Hanley ripped a shot into the void to make the score 2-2 after 15 minutes of play. Franklin & Marshall College kept up the pressure in the second quarter as Nolan took a pass from midfield and buried a shot past Yost on a fast break to take a 3-2 lead. The margin grew to two goals with 7:07 left until halftime as Welsh flipped in a shot while falling down outside the front of the crease. But Washington responded in the final 4:30 of the half as Edwards and Renner slipped in shots for a 4-4 score at intermission. Again, F&M responded to the Washington challenge as Solleveld finished a feed from Welsh one-minute into the third period for a 5-4 lead. Ninety-one seconds later, Steve Berger connected on a point blank shot to tie the score before Edwards added the third of a game high four goals for a 6-5 lead with 9:46 left in the period. However, the Diplomats knotted the game at six when Smith beat his defender and took a pass from Welsh on the run before lining a shot into the twine on a fast break at the 36:33 mark. Two minutes later, Renner added the first of back-to-back unassisted scores with 5:45 left in the third and 5:54 in the fourth to take an 8-6 lead for all the Shoremen needed to record the win. Trailing 9-6 with five minutes to go, the Diplomats dominated play in the final minutes before Welsh finished a pass from Vandy Vanderwarker (Jr., Keswick, VA/STAB) with eight seconds left on the clock for the 9-7 final.
Twenty-days later, for the Diplomats to advance to the CC Championship game versus Gettysburg or McDaniel College, this year's squad will need to make history. In the prior 32 meetings between the two teams, F&M has been victorious in only one, a 10-8 win in 1995 in Lancaster. However, the 2003 team's track record on history-making versus nationally ranked teams on the road has been good so far as the Diplomats defeated #10 Washington & Lee 5-4 on Mach 16 in Lexington, Virginia for the first time since 1996. On Saturday, F&M handled #12 ranked Gettysburg College 15-12 at the historic battlefield for their first win over the Bullets since 1990. Further, even the team's #8 national ranking is historical as it marks the program's highest recognition in the national poll since the Diplomats were ranked #7 in the 1996 pre-season poll. Leading the offensive charge for the Diplomats has been midfielder Jon Singer (Sr., Reisterstown, MD/Boys Latin), who leads the team in scoring with 22-27-49. Further, he ranks fourth in points (3.73 ppg), 15th in goals (1.75) and third in assists (2.00 apg) through games of April 21 in the latest Centennial Conference statistics to anchor an F&M offense which ranks second in scoring offense with 162 goals in 13 games (12.46 gpg). Further, Singer is ranked 23rd all-time in the history of the Centennial Conference in goals, as he now has 88-52-140. In addition to Singer, Nolan is eighth in points (3.00 ppg) and tied for fourth in goals (2.25) per game with Hanley. Recently, Smith has been the Diplomats' most potent weapon as he tallied four goals and four assists against Gettysburg on Saturday to earn Inside Lacrosse/Warrior Division III National Player of the Week. On the season, he now has 20-20-40 and raised his career numbers to 67-52-119 with one goal and two assists in an 11-9 victory at Dickinson College on April 21. In the latest Centennial Conference statistical rankings, he ranks ninth in assists (1.30 apg), 19th in goals (1.58 gpg) and seventh in points (3.08 ppg). As a team, F&M ranks second in team man-up percentage (25-of-59, 42.4%) and fifth in man down percentage (47 stops-on-63, 74.6%), while rating second in scoring defense (5.61 gpg) behind Washington College (4.17 gpg). In goal, Sartorius is third in the Centennial Conference in save percentage (66.9%) and goals against average (6.69 gaa) as he has recorded 122 saves and 75 goals allowed in 673 minutes of play. Further, he is 16th in the history of the Conference in career saves with 331, 11 short of supplanting former Diplomat Andrew Whitley '96 (341) for 15th place. Ironically, Whitley was the last F&M goaltender to defeat the Shoremen. For Washington, Chris Edwards leads the team with 41 goals, while Steve Berger has 25 goals and team highs in assists (35) and points (60) as the Shoremen are averaging 13.33 goals per game. In addition, Washington possesses the #1 defense in the nation as the Shoremen are allowing 4.17 goals per game. Further, goaltender Rich Yost leads the Conference in save percentage (.669) and goals against average (4.71) with 83 saves and 41 goals allowed in 522 minutes.
Overall, the Diplomats and Shoremen are two of four Centennial Conference teams ranked in the top 15 as McDaniel is #10 and Gettysburg is ranked 12th. On Friday, following the conclusion of the Diplomats-Shoremen game, #2 seed Gettysburg will take on #3 seed McDaniel in the other semi-final game. On Sunday, the winners of the semifinal contests will face off at 2:00 p.m. on the campus of Washington College in the Centennial Conference Championship game.
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