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LANCASTER, PA – The Franklin & Marshall College women's lacrosse team is ranked #16 in the 2006 Lacrosse Magazine Division III Preseason Poll. The 2003 and 2005 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Mid-Atlantic Region Champions, Franklin & Marshall concluded the 2005 season 14-3, 9-0 in Centennial Conference play, as the team’s ECAC Championship marked F&M’s second title in three years and tied the 2003 ECAC champions (14-5) for the second most season wins in school history behind the 1991 Middle Atlantic Conference championship team (15-1). Ranked eighth in the final Laxpower.com Women’s Power Rankings and #10 in the final Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Division III Poll last season, the Diplomats come into the 2006 season after ranking 16th in scoring offense (13.12 gpg), 12th in scoring defense (6.82 gpg), 10th in scoring margin (6.29 gpg) and eighth in winning percentage (.824) in the final 2005 NCAA Division III statistics. Individually, goalie Kamissa Mort (Sr., Ashton, MD/Sandy Spring) ranked seventh in goals against average as she allowed 6.50 goals per game and is expected to again lead the team in 2006. The 2005 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Goaltender of the Year, Mort was named an All-Centennial Conference honorable mention selection last year as she finished 13-1 with a .531 save percentage in 775 minutes of action after taking over the starting job prior to the Diplomats home opener against Gettysburg College on March 30. In Centennial Conference games, she allowed 6.00 goals per game and notched a .568 save percentage in 480 minutes as she allowed 48 goals and made 63 saves in Centennial Conference games. For her career, she has a 7.66 goals against average and .497 save percentage as she has allowed 250 goals and made 247 saves in 1959 minutes. Another player to watch is attacker Kelly Cassels (Jr., Downingtown, PA/Great Valley) who was named to the second team of the 2005 Warrior/Inside Lacrosse and womenslacrosse.com Division III All-America teams. A 2005 Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) All-Metro Region first team selection, Cassels led the team in goals as she finished with 47 goals and nine assists for 56 points last season to earn All-Centennial Conference first team honors. A 2004 All-Centennial Conference second team selection, she was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2005 ECAC Tournament as she scored three goals and assisted on another to lead the Diplomats to a 12-8 victory over McDaniel College in the ECAC Championship game hosted by the University of Scranton on May 15. Overall, she tallied eight goals and handed out one assist for nine points in the tournament, including a five-goal performance in a 16-7 win over Montclair State University in the semifinals on May 14, as she has 80 goals and 13 assists for 93 points in her career. Two other impact players in 2006 will be midfielder Eileen Keever (Sr., Prospect Park, PA/Interboro) and defender Holly Rutherford (Sr., Rochester, NY/Brighton) who garnered IWLCA All-Metro Region second team honors last year. Keever recorded 15 goals and seven assists for 22 points with 31 groundballs last year to raise her career-scoring total to 44 goals and 26 assists for 70 points. An All-Centennial Conference first team selection, Rutherford anchored a defense that allowed 6.82 goals per game last year. A two-time All-Region selection after earning first team honors in 2004, she scored one goal in 2005 to raise her career scoring total to 29 goals and four assists for 33 points. On the sidelines, Franklin & Marshall will be led by fourth year head coach Anne Phillips who has guided the team to a berth in the last three Centennial Conference title games. A 1980 graduate of the College, Phillips will attempt to lead the team to the Centennial Conference "Final Four" for the sixth consecutive year in 2005 as the team will look to make a run and capture the first Centennial Conference lacrosse title in school history. One of the most successful Division III women’s lacrosse programs in the nation, Franklin & Marshall has captured six conference titles as the Diplomats have competed in 14 national championship tournaments and recorded a mark of 280-145-3. 2006 Lacrosse Magazine Division III Women's Lacrosse Preseason Poll
1. The College of New Jersey
2. Middlebury
3. Salisbury
4. Cortland
5. Colorado
6. Williams
7. Colby
8. Gettysburg
9. Amherst
10. Bowdoin
11. Drew
12. Skidmore
13. Washington & Lee
14. St. Mary’s (MD)
15. William Smith
16. Franklin & Marshall
17. Ursinus
18. Trinity (CT)
19. Mary Washington
20. Wesleyan
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