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LANCASTER, PA – For the Franklin & Marshall College women’s lacrosse team the 2003, 2004 and 2005 seasons were incomplete. But how can a stretch of three seasons in which the Diplomats won the 2003 and 2005 Eastern College Athletic Conference titles and compiled a 38-17 record be incomplete? It is what the Diplomats didn’t win and haven’t reached since 1998 that will be the goal for Franklin & Marshall as the team will look to finish what it started four years ago. The 2003, 2004 and 2005 Centennial Conference runner-up to Gettysburg College, the 2006 edition of the Diplomats are looking to break into elusive territory and capture its first ever Centennial Conference championship and advance to the NCAA tournament for the 15th time since 1977. Picked to finish second in the conference behind Gettysburg according to the Centennial Conference women’s lacrosse coaches, F&M enters the new season with some questions. Last year, the team won the Centennial Conference regular season title for the first time in school history, captured its second Eastern College Athletic Conference South Region Tournament championship in the last three years and finished the season #8 in the final Laxpower.com Women’s Lacrosse Power Rankings and #10 in the final Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Division III Poll. In addition, F&M recorded a 14-3 record, including a 9-0 mark in Centennial Conference play, to tie 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). The Diplomats season did not go unnoticed on the national scene as six Franklin & Marshall players were named to the All-Centennial Conference team and three players garnered All-America honors. Missing from the 2006 Diplomats are Centennial Conference Player of the Year Alexis O’Meara ’05 and defenders Allison O’Meara ‘05 and Julie Rice ’05 who graduated in May. A 2003 and 2005 Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) All-Metro Region first team selection at attack, Allison O’Meara tallied 14 goals and five assists for 19 points to earn All-Centennial Conference second team honors last year and garnered Womenslacrosse.com second team and Warrrior/Inside Lacrosse Division III All-America first team All-America honors. The 2005 Centennial Conference and ECAC Player of the Year, Alexis O’Meara scored 36 goals and 25 assists for 61 points last year to earn All-Centennial Conference and IWLCA All-Metro Region first team honors. She garnered three All-America honors last year as she was honored on the Warrior/Inside Lacrosse, Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA)/US Lacrosse and Womenslacrosse.com second teams and concluded her career with 173 goals and 107 assists for 280 points. Historically, she ranks fourth in goals, first in assists and second in points in school history as she is one of only two players to score 100 goals and 100 assists at the College. But the Diplomats’ returning players have added confidence entering the new season as Franklin & Marshall played the ECAC Tournament, knocking off Montclair State University 16-7 in the semifinals and McDaniel College 12-8 in the title tilt, without the O’Meara twins or Rice. Leading the attack this year will be Kiki Foster (Sr., Denver, CO/Kent Denver) who was second on the team in goals last year, hammering home 38 scores and dishing out 12 assists for 50 points with a pair of game-winning goals. In the process she raised her career totals to 114 goals and 29 assists as she is tied for 14th with Megan McGowan ‘95 in goals scored and ranks 19th in points (143). A potential successor for O’Meara as Centennial Conference Player of the Year is midfielder Kelly Cassels (Jr., Downingtown, PA/Great Valley) who returns following a sophomore season in which she garnered IWLCA All-Metro Region first team honors and was recognized on the Womenslacrosse.com and Warrior/Inside Lacrosse Division III All-America second teams. A 2005 first team and 2004 second team All-Centennial Conference selection, she tallied 47 goals and nine assists for 56 points as she led the Diplomats in goals and game winning goals (four) and finished second in points. The Most Valuable Player of the 2005 ECAC Tournament as she scored three goals and assisted on another in the title game, she tallied eight goals and handed out one assist for nine points in the tournament, including a five-goal performance in the team’s 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. Also returning in the midfield are Sloan Giampa (Jr., Cortlandt Manor, NY/Yorktown) and Brenna Dolphin (Jr., Wilmington, DE/Archmere Academy). Dolphin finished fourth on the team with 28 goals, including three game-winning tallies, and added five assists for 33 points, while Giampa registered 13 goals and tacked on eight assists for 21 points. The heart of the Diplomats’ defense will be Holly Rutherford (Sr. Rochester, NY/Brighton) who was named to the 2006 Inside Lacrosse Division III Women’s Lacrosse Preseason All-America second team. An All-Centennial Conference and All-ECAC first team and All-Region second team honoree in 2005, she tallied 33 ground balls and anchored a defense that allowed 6.82 goals per game last season. Moving to defense from midfield this season is Eileen Keever (Sr., Prospect Park, PA/Interboro) who recorded 15 goals and seven assists for 22 points to earn All-Region second team honors in 2005. Also helping in the midfield and on defense is Caroline Storrie (Sr., Phoenix, MD/Dulaney) who was a regular in the defensive midfield last season, starting all 17 games, tallying a goal and three assists for four points. The Diplomats title hopes will be decided in goal as 2005 ECAC Goalie of the Year Kamissa Mort (Sr., Ashton, MD/Sandy Spring) returns for her fourth season between the pipes for Franklin & Marshall. The first Franklin & Marshall player named Goaltender of the Year, Mort was named an All-Centennial Conference honorable mention selection last year as she finished 13-1 with a 6.50 goals against average and .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 has 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.
In addition to the Diplomats returning talent, Coach Anne
Phillips will have an arsenal of new talent from which to
pull from for a title run.
Joining the team in 2006 are midfielders Vanessa Brown (Phoenixville, PA/Owen J. Roberts), Laura Hewitt (Portland, OR/Lincoln), Shannon Summers (North Wales, PA/Hill School), Allison Solomon (Damascus, MD/Academy of the Holy Cross), Sarah Meisenberg (Severna Park, MD/Severn School) and Ashley Wycoff (Fort Washington, PA/Hun School of Princeton), attackers Molly Cigala (Vero Beach, FL/St. Edwards) and Jen Pritchard (Media, PA/Penncrest) and defenders Amanda Miceli (North Caldwell, NJ/West Essex), Devi Hensch (Bordentown, NJ/Northern Burlington), Sarah Nyman (Malvern, PA/Great Valley), Maria Stratakis (Hunt Valley, MD/Roland Park Country School), Lindsay Evans (Annapolis, MD/Annapolis) and Carrie Palmisano (Oak Hill, VA/Paul VI). 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. Franklin & Marshall will open the season on March 11 versus Washington & Lee University at home on Sponaugle-Williamson Field. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m.
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