FRANKLIN – The Franklin College women's lacrosse team closed out their home schedule and celebrated their senior class on Wednesday (Apr. 24) night, with the Griz meeting Spalding in a Heartland Collegiate Lacrosse Conference (HCLC) matchup.
 
The Grizzlies (2-7, 1-3 HCLC) battled the Golden Eagles (5-9, 3-2 HCLC) tough but a lengthy scoreless drought nullified a late comeback attempt, as Spalding held on to win 11-7.
 
How it Happened
Down by three with the first quarter winding down, Jillian Schlieper scored with 1:35 left in the period and Abby Moore beat the buzzer with a sneaky shot from a weird angle to get Franklin withing a goal at 3-2 after 15 minutes. But the Franklin offense would go quiet until late in the third quarter when Sydney Briggs scored to make it a 7-3 game with 3:35 to go in the quarter.
 
Schlieper and Bella Frye both scored twice in the final quarter, but the Spalding lead proved too much to overcome.
 
Inside the Box Score
-Shots were 25-23 in Spalding's favor with the Eagles holding a 16-14 edge in ground balls and both teams committing 19 turnovers.
-Frye led the Grizzlies with eight shot attempts and tied with Schlieper for the team lead with five shots on goal.
-Frye and Maddie Cary tied for the team lead with three ground balls collected.
-Kara Woodard forced a team-high three turnovers.
-In goal, Jamie Schlieper turned back eight Spalding shot attempts.
-Prior to the game, Franklin honored seniors Bessie Kerr, Jillian Schlieper, Kylee Gaskins, Ashley Summers, Frye, Briggs, Delaney McCafferty, Woodard, Mia Turnbaugh and student manager Hannah Johnson ahead of their final career home game.
 
Up Next
Franklin closes out the regular season on Saturday (Apr. 27) afternoon with a road trip to Hanover. The opening draw is set for 1:00 p.m.