April 10, 2004
Shorewomen Upend No. 17 F&M, 9-8
Sawma Scores Game-Winner with 12 Seconds Left

LANCASTER, PA -- Senior attacker Casey Sawma (Conway, MA/Stoneleigh-Burnham) scored the game-winning goal off an assist from junior attacker Lindsey Eichner (Raritan, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan) with 12 seconds remaining to lift visiting Washington College to a 9-8 win over 17th-ranked Franklin & Marshall in Centennial Conference women's lacrosse action this afternoon in Lancaster, PA.

The Shorewomen (7-4, 4-2 Centennial) outscored the Diplomats (3-6, 1-3) , 6-0, in the first half. Sawma opened the scoring with a free-position goal with 24:28 on the clock. Eichner then scored off a feed from senior attacker Janet Studdiford (Wyndmoor, PA/Springside School) at 22:55. Studdiford found senior midfielder Minta Sayres (East Haddam, CT/Westminster School) for a goal with 16:32 left in the half and sophomore midfielder Emmy Hyde (Gaithersburg, MD/Watkins Mill) followed with a goal at 14:53. A goal by Sayres off a Sawma assist with 13:05 left in the half and an unassisted tally by Eichner with 8:21 remaining gave Washington its 6-0 halftime margin.

Neither team scored again until the final 20 minutes of the game, when F&M came roaring back. Alexis O'Meara started the rally with a free-position goal at 19:04 and then fed Kristen Foster for a score with 14:02 to play to make it 6-2. Sawma scored an unassisted goal for the Shorewomen at 13:08 to make it 7-2, but the Diplomats then reeled off five unanswered goals to knot the score at 7-7. Kelly Cassels opened the run with a goal at 11:12, Alexis O'Meara followed with a goal off an assist from Foster at 8:16, and Cassels scored off a feed from Eileen Keever with 7:30 remaining to make it 7-5. Brenna Dolphin then fired in a pair of unassisted goals with 6:58 and 1:23 left in the game, respectively, to deadlock the score.

Sawma put the Shorewomen back in the lead with a free-position goal with 1:06 remaining, but Allison O'Meara evened things up for the Diplomats 11 seconds later with an unassisted goal that made it 8-8. Sawma then scored her game-winner to give the Shorewomen the win.

Eichner's assist on the game-winning goal was her 38th of the year, tying the Washington College single-season mark set by Studdiford last season. Sawma led all scorers with four goals and one assist, while Eichner tallied two goals and one assist. Sayres finished with two goals, while Studdiford contributed two assists.

Alexis O'Meara paced the Diplomats with two goals and one assist, while Cassels and Dolphin each scored two goals for F&M.

Washington sophomore goalie Ashley Crisler (Manchester, MD/North Carroll) made her first start of the season after returning from an injury. Crisler made eight saves in the victory.

The win marked the second time in three years that the Shorewomen have upset a nationally-ranked Franklin & Marshall squad by one goal on the road. Washington beat the then 14th-ranked Diplomats, 12-11, in overtime, on April 13, 2002. Sawma scored the game-winner in that game as well, firing in the decisive goal with seven seconds to play in the second overtime.

The Shorewomen are back in action Tuesday with a 4:00 p.m. non-conference game at Rowan.

BOX SCORE