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GETTYSBURG, PA – Franklin & Marshall College, Dickinson College, Washington College and the host Bullets will battle it out as Gettysburg College will host the 2005 Centennial Conference (CC) men’s lacrosse championship tournament, to be held on May 6 and 8 at Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium. The top-seeded and #4 ranked Bullets (12-3, 8-0 CC) will host fourth seed #19 Franklin & Marshall (9-4, 5-3 CC) in Friday’s first semifinal at 1:30 p.m. Second seed #9 Washington (9-4, 7-1 CC) will square off against Dickinson (9-4, 6-2 CC) in the day’s other semifinal at 4 p.m. The championship game is slated for Sunday at 1 p.m. Admission is free for all games. The tournament’s champion earns the CC’s automatic bid to the 2005 NCAA tournament, set to begin on May 11. The F&M-Gettysburg semifinal marks the third time in the five-year history of the CC tournament, and the first time since 2002, that the two programs will clash in the opening round. Leading the way for Franklin & Marshall this year has been attackmen Cyrus Adams (So., Nashville, TN/Montgomery Bell) and Steve Welsh (Sr., Lewes, DE/Cape Henelopen) who have combined for 59 goals and 49 assists through the regular season. The team’s leading scorer with 18 goals and 44 assists for 62 points, Welsh has 82 goals and 111 assists 193 points as he ranks second in assists and fifth in points in school history. Adams leads the team in goals scored as he has tallied 41-5-46 to date as the Diplomats are outscoring their opponents 137-102. In goal, Mike Sartorius (Sr., Summit, NJ/Summit) has a 7.34 goals against average and .621 save percentage as he now has a 8.05 gaa and a .607 save percentage in his career and ranks first in F&M history in saves with 667 in 3264:26. The key to the Diplomats success has been on defense and face-offs as Matt Capone (Sr., Scarsdale, NY/Scarsdale) has won 198-of-271 (73.1%) face-offs to raise his career total to 697-for-903 (77.2%) and the Franklin & Marshall defense is holding opponents to 7.74 goals per game. Franklin & Marshall is seeking the program’s first Centennial Conference championship as Gettysburg has won eight of the CC’s 11 titles (1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004), while Washington captured conference titles in 1996, 1997 and 2003.
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