As a reward for picking up its first win of the season on Monday, Franklin women's lacrosse got to turn around and host a loaded and undefeated Hamline squad. To make matters worse, the Griz were short three players due to injury and illness, leaving the team rather thinned out on a cold, wet and windy Wednesday evening.

Coach Morgan Krause's squad fought valiantly through all of those obstacles, but a Hamline blitz at the end of the first quarter was too much to overcome in a 15-3 loss.

"We have a lot of girls on our team who are brand new to the sport of lacrosse," Krause said. "We could've easily just crumbled and fallen apart, given up after the first quarter, but we didn't — we held our own."

The Grizzlies (1-3) fared well in the early going, getting the first two shots of the game and holding the Pipers to one goal over the first seven-plus minutes, with freshman goaltender Kelsey Moran stopping three of the first four shots she faced. Once Hamline got its second goal, however, things quickly began to snowball — the visitors didn't go more than 83 seconds without scoring the rest of the opening quarter, building a 9-0 advantage.

Franklin then kept the Pipers from scoring again until the 9:15 mark of the second period before the margin reached double digits.

Claire Ecenbarger appeared to get the Grizzlies on the scoreboard in the final minute of the half, but the officials waved it off; Hamline took a 13-0 lead into the break. Ecenbarger did finally break the ice for Franklin midway through the third quarter with an unassisted man-up tally.

Addie Whitman picked up two fourth-period goals for the Griz to trim the deficit to a dozen.

Moran finished with seven saves on the night, with Sophie Taylor making one. Whitman also led the team with six ground balls and four turnovers caused.

Krause was happy with the fight the Grizzlies showed in a difficult setting.

"A lot of girls stepped up today," Krause said, singling out the play of freshman Kiera McCord (four draw controls, one assist) in the midfield. "I'm just really proud. (The loss) taught us a lot, but I think it's going to over all help us grow as a program and as a team for the rest of the season."

Franklin will play its fourth game in eight days on Saturday (March 14, 11 a.m.) when it travels north to face Lawrence.