No. 10 Franklin & Marshall shrugged off a scoring drought of nearly 27 minutes to score six of the game's final seven goals and rally past No. 15 Tufts, 12-11, to highlight 15 NCAA tournament second-round contests today.
The Diplomats got goals from six players in erasing a 10-6 Jumbo lead and move in stunning fashion to a third-round game against Colorado College Saturday in Ewing, N.Y. Tufts had scored the first four goals of the second half, continuing what began as a 3-0 run to bring about halftime with the score tied at 6.
But F&M made it a game again, ultimately forging an 11-11 tie on Katie Groenke's free-position goal with 4:30 to play. Clare Monaghan fed Jane Cote for the winner with 1:51 left. Anya Chopoorian controlled the ensuring draw, and the Diplomats were able to run out most of the final seconds before Tufts regained possession.
F&M's win represented the closest of any today, as once again favorites mostly dominated save for a few noteworthy exceptions. Among them, No. 8 St. John Fisher could not muster much offense in an 11-6 loss to Wesleyan, which marked the NESCAC's Cardinals second tournament win in school history.
Then there's the matter of revenge, which Catholic got against Rowan but No. 19 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps couldn't get, again, against Colorado College. The Cardinals dropped a 19-18 decision to the Profs in our nation's capital on March 10. More than two months later, Catholic avenged it, stifling Rowan on its own campus today, 14-11, in a game not nearly as close as the final score would intimate.
Holly Regan scored four goals, Anna Maupin added three and two assists, and Jessica Lyons won seven draws to help Catholic pull away, 13-5, with 19:50 to play. The Profs would score six of the game's final seven, but too much damage had been done.
For the second consecutive season, CMS beat Colorado College in the regular season but had its season ended by the Tigers in the NCAA tournament. This time, the loss came despite six goals from Corie Hack.
NCAA Tournament Second-Round Scores
No. 1 TCNJ 8, No. 12 William Smith 2
No. 2 Middlebury 18, Babson 5
No. 3 Salisbury 19, Meredith 11
No. 4 Gettysburg 19, Westfield State 4
No. 5 Amherst 10, No. 11 Cortland 7
No. 6 Mary Washington 18, Mount Union 6
No. 9 York 10, No. 7 Washington & Lee 3
Wesleyan 11, No. 8 St. John Fisher 6
No. 10 Franklin & Marshall 12, No. 15 Tufts 11
No. 13 Bowdoin 18, No. 20 Stevens 8
No. 14 Trinity 16, Springfield 4
Catholic 14, No. 17 Rowan 11
Colorado College 17, No. 19 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 13
Denison 21, Calvin 4 (Saturday result)
Rhodes 23, Transylvania 9
Illinois Wesleyan 18, Hamline 8