CLEARWATER, Fla. (March 12, 2024) – In a rematch against the team that knocked them out of the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament a year ago, the No. 25 Denison University women's lacrosse team started off its Spring Break trip on Tuesday with a 19-11 defeat at the hands of No. 5 nationally-ranked Franklin and Marshall College in a neutral-site matchup at the Joe DiMaggio Sports Complex in Clearwater, Florida.

Denison played even with F&M in the first quarter (4-4) and led 5-4 after the team-leading 11th goal of the season by Bridget Sheehy early in the second quarter, but the lead was short-lived as the Diplomats scored just 43 seconds later and ultimately scored six straight goals to end the first half and double up the Big Red at 10-5.

In all, it was a 7-0 run for F&M before Denison scored three straight goals, the first two by Mary Martinson and the final one on the first goal of the season by Ashley Viglione, to get to within three (11-8) with five minutes left in the third quarter.

That is the closest the Big Red would get, however, as the Diplomats scored two of the final three goals of the third period and scored four of the next five goals overall.

Denison was outscored a combined 12-3 in the second and fourth quarters despite outscoring F&M by one (8-7) in the other two periods.

Mary Daniel finished with six draw controls for the Big Red while Merrill Rollhaus had four draw controls, four groundballs and three caused turnovers and Grace Schlossberg had two caused turnovers.

In addition, seven Big Red players scored on a free position shot as Denison was a combined 7-for-14 with at least one made free position shot in each period.

Julianne Henigan made the start in the first half and finished with 10 goals allowed and seven saves.

After advancing to the Sweet 16 in 2023, the Big Red have certainly challenged themselves early but are just 1-4 through the first five games this season with losses to No. 2 Gettysburg (17-10), No. 17 Roanoke (14-7), No. 17 Chicago (16-14), and now No. 5 Franklin & Marshall, which improves to 4-1 on the season.

It was the second time in the last three seasons the Big Red and the Diplomats have met up during Spring Break in Florida with F&M winning the previous matchup by a score of 20-10 in 2022. The Diplomats are coming off of a Centennial Conference Championship and Final Four appearance during the 2023 season. F&M went 18-5 overall last season before falling to eventual national champion and preseason No. 1 Middlebury in the national semifinals.

Game number two of Denison's Spring Break action in Florida will see the Big Red battle the St. Mary's College of Maryland at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 14. The Big Red defeated the Seahawks 16-9 during the first game of their Spring Break trip to Colorado College last season.