Despite 2-7 Start, F&M Never Wavered in its Belief

With just under four minutes left in regulation, Franklin & Marshall’s sophomore attack Alexandra Proefrock scored off an assist from senior Devyn Crone — the second time the pair had connected for a goal in two minutes — to give the Diplomats their first lead of the game in the season-opener against No. 9 Washington and Lee.

The defense held on, and Franklin & Marshall had a thrilling, come-from-behind victory over a top-ranked opponent to begin the team’s quest for its first national championship since 2009.

That was about all the excitement the team enjoyed for the next month and a half. The Diplomats lost seven of their next eight games before conference play, leaving the players searching to find themselves quickly before the entire season got away from them.

“Obviously, there were moments of doubt and frustration,” senior attacker Lauren Pittman said. “When you lose that many close games or things are not clicking right away, it is hard not to feel discouraged at times. But we also knew that sitting around feeling sorry for ourselves was not going to get us anywhere. Instead, we kept fighting, kept showing up every day, and kept trusting that if we stayed together, things would eventually turn around.”

There were a multitude of reasons for the team’s struggles in the first half of the year.

One of them was a challenging non-conference schedule. After beating the Generals, Franklin & Marshall took on Scranton, Wesleyan, York, Middlebury, Salisbury, Rowan and Trinity, all programs that ended the regular season ranked in the USA Lacrosse Top 20.

The roster was also consistently in flux. Already trying to fill the holes left by seven graduating seniors, including USA Lacrosse All-Americans Lydia Cassilly and Lane Lambeth, the team had to adjust to a midseason bout of the flu that swept through the locker room over the course of two weeks, as well as season-ending injuries to senior Julia Carbon — the team’s main draw-taker and consistent midfielder — and sophomore midfielder Blaine Cosby.

The program hadn’t lost seven games in a season, let alone in the first nine games, since 2004. To keep the team headed in the right direction, head coach Renee Dowd brought in Emily Perrin, a mental performance coach, to work with the players and help navigate through the hard times.

“She was really helpful helping us define who we wanted to be in those moments and really challenged the ‘negative’ feelings we had in those moments,” Dowd said. “That was something that was really helpful to have that mental reset with her throughout the season. We talked about our identity as a team and knowing we can do hard things.”

While the team limped out of the non-conference portion of its schedule, games against Centennial Conference opponents gave the Diplomats a second life.

Pittman said the team treated conference play “like it was our ‘season two.’” The team played with a different sense of urgency and focus. If the Dips weren’t going to make the NCAA tournament, it wouldn’t be because of their overall record, so the players had to forget what their record was and stay locked in on the next game.

Senior captain and defender Belle Dintino said the only option was to keep pushing.

“As part of a senior class that has seen huge success in our previous seasons, we honestly refused to lose that,” Dintino said. “In conference play, we doubled down and decided that yes, out of conference was rough, but there is still so much in our control.”

April 1 is typically a day for pranks, and nature was doing its best to throw another monkey wrench into the Franklin & Marshall season with two lightning delays, but the Diplomats were all business against rival Gettysburg.

The fourth quarter began with Franklin & Marshall clinging to a one-goal lead. It ended with 10 unanswered Diplomat goals in a 16-5 victory. Dowd called it a season-turner.

“That was a sign of who we were as a team and who we could be,” Dowd said.

After the game, Dowd left for two weeks on maternity leave. Coaching while pregnant was important to her because not only did it keep her busy and not stressing about when her baby would arrive, but it was also another example to her players that they were capable of doing hard things.

Her son was born two days after the team’s victory over Gettysburg.

Dowd placed all the trust in her assistant coaches, Julie Gardner and Emma Hagg, to hold down the fort while she was gone. During that time, Hagg helped revamp the defense and implemented a zone defense that Dintino said was “exactly what we were missing.”

“We only had our man defense for the first half of the season, so when it wasn’t working, we were at a loss for what to do in the moment,” Dintino said. “This new defense has not only given us another option but countless opportunities for caused turnovers.”

Three days after the victory over Gettysburg, Franklin & Marshall lost to Haverford. That was the team’s last defeat, though, as it has since strung together seven victories — including a Centennial Conference tournament semifinal win over Gettysburg and a title game win over Haverford — to win the conference championship for a fourth consecutive season.

The new defense paid dividends. During the seven-game winning streak, only one opponent, Gettysburg, scored more than eight goals. In the conference final, the defense held Haverford to five goals. Senior goalie Sara DiGiovanni made eight saves, while Dintino was named tournament MVP after she produced 11 draw controls, 10 ground balls and nine caused turnovers in the playoffs.

Franklin & Marshall faces Neumann Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Eastern in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Diplomats also enter the tournament with a renewed lease on life and a more confident mindset.

“Our tough schedule has made us battle tested,” Dintino said. “We have competed against the best in D-III. If anything, we are prepared for the level of competition that we are about to face.”

“Everything we went through this season prepared us well for the NCAA tournament because we have already faced adversity in so many different forms,” Pittman said. “We have learned how to respond under all these pressures, and our team is mentally tougher because of it. We know how quickly momentum can shift, and we know how important it is to stay composed and trust each other in big moments.”