Facing a one-loss St. Mary's team would have been a tough enough at full strength. With two of its top players out due to injury, Franklin women's lacrosse faced a steep uphill climb on Tuesday evening.

Though they fought valiantly, the shorthanded Grizzlies came up on the short end of an 18-4 score at Faught Stadium.

"We have two of our star players out (Maddie Cary and Claire Ecenbarger)," Griz coach Morgan Krause said. "We have a lot of girls playing positions that they've never played before; Jayde (Billings), she's played defense all year, and then we just threw her on attack today because that's what we needed. One sub — girls were gassed."

The visiting Belles got out to a 3-0 lead in the first six minutes of play before Franklin (2-4) broke through with an unassisted goal by Abby Moore. The junior then assisted on a man-up goal by Aubrey Small in the second quarter, but the Grizzlies went into the half facing a 13-2 deficit.

Franklin played St. Mary's to a draw in the third quarter, opening the half with an Addie Whitman goal and only allowing one Belles tally at the other end. Moore scored the final Griz goal on a free position shot early in the fourth quarter.

Kelsey Moran and Sophie Taylor split the goaltending duties for Franklin, with Taylor making six stops and Moran one.

"There were some good things, and there are some things that, obviously, we need to work on," Krause said after the loss. "But I want to say that this team is really good at understanding what needs to be done. They're not going to push back, they're not going to try to argue. They understand. They're ready to practice, and they're ready for our game on Saturday."

The Grizzlies will be back on the Faught turf for that one, hosting Wisconsin-Stevens Point in a 2 p.m. battle.