LANCASTER, Pa. – Behind a first half deficit, the Ursinus College women's lacrosse was defeated by No. 5 Franklin & Marshall, 19-3, on Saturday afternoon from Shadek Stadium.
 

Franklin & Marshall recorded their fourth consecutive victory and improved to 9-2 on the season and 5-0 in Centennial Conference action. Meanwhile, Ursinus had a two-game winning streak snapped and falls to 6-5 overall and 2-2 in conference play.  

 
The Diplomats opened the contest with back-to-back goals to gain an early 2-0 lead with 12:32 remaining in the quarter. Next, Franklin & Marshall's Lydia Cassilly was awarded a free-position opportunity at the 11:50-mark, but sophomore netminder Camille Hubbs denied the scoring chance by saving the bouncing shot. The Diplomats increased their lead to three at the 10:07-mark as they capitalized off a Bears turnover before finding the back of the net for their third goal. F&M's Lane Lambeth scooped up a groundball in front of the net before capitalizing on the one-on-one opportunity. The Diplomats carried the momentum throughout the first period as they stretched their lead to 6-0 heading into the second quarter.

 
Sophomore Kate Adams and first-year Cait Michalowski each recorded caused turnovers in the beginning of the second period, but the Diplomats increased their lead to 10-0 with 9:13 remaining in the first half. Ursinus started to maintain possession over the next few minutes of play as junior Maeve Leonzi netted the Bears opening goal at the 5:22-mark. Leonzi received a pass at the top of the circle before juking past her defender to create separation and send a shot past the Diplomats netminder for her 35th goal of the season. After a Diplomats goal, the Bears responded with a goal of their own as sophomore Ashley Noto scored her first goal of the game with five seconds remaining in the half. Noto's goal came during a two-on-one fast break as Leonzi found Noto behind the defense to cut the Bears halftime deficit to 11-2.

 
Franklin & Marshall carried the momentum into the second half outscoring Ursinus 5-0 in the third period to increase their lead to 16-2 heading into the fourth quarter. The Diplomats capitalized off two Bear penalties leading to woman-up goals, while adding back-to-back goals with less than three minutes to play. F&M scored the opening three goals of the final period, before Noto added her second goal of the game during the closing seconds resulting in the 19-3 decision. She was awarded a free-position opportunity with 42 seconds remaining and took two steps before firing a shot past the Diplomats netminder.
 

First-year Jamie Michaud finished with a team-high four ground balls, while junior Andrea Hook, sophomore Abby Burkholder, and Michaud each tallied two caused turnovers apiece. For the Diplomats, Gillian Brennan and Lauren Pittman finished with a game-high four goals apiece, while Lambeth collected three ground balls and three caused turnovers. F&M held a 26-19 advantage in ground balls and a 14-13 edge in caused turnovers. Ursinus closed out the contest with a clear percentage of 65.2% (15-of-23) with the Diplomats clearing 80% (20-of-25) of their opportunities.
 

The Bears will return to action on Wednesday, April 10th as they travel to Swarthmore, Pennsylvania for the Anita Deasey Memorial Cup against Swarthmore College at 7 p.m.