with Phil Naegely, GoMessiah.com reporter

Lancaster, PA - No. 13 Messiah College dropped another close game to longtime rival, this time falling on the road to No. 6 Franklin & Marshall. The loss dropped the Falcons to 4-4, though each loss has come by a single-goal margin and to a team ranked in the NFHCA Top 10.
 
In the early going, the Falcons and the Diplomats exchanged shots and penalty corner opportunities, with neither team able to gain a clear advantage.
 
Franklin & Marshall came close to scoring at the 15:45 mark, but their shot hit off the post. Messiah quickly responded by earning two penalty corner chances three minutes apart, but both shots from Becky Ely missed the mark.
 
The Diplomats then counted with two corners of their own, and finally connected when Maria Guarisco set up Juliet Dalton for a defelcted shot into the cage. At the 22:22 mark, it would be the only score of the game.
 
Right before the halftime break, the Diplomats almost doubled their lead, but Messiahs's strong defensive unit forced a shot wide.
 
In the first 15 minutes of the second-half Messiah fended off eight penalty corners and prevented their foes from finding the back of the cage. Stil, the Diplomats earned 11 penalty corners and controlled the majority of the field throughout the final frame.
 
As the game progressed into the final moments, Messiah's offense searched for an equalizer. Off a corner at the 64:50 mark, Carissa Gehman's shot was blocked before Nicole Wilkerson's follow up attempt was also blocked. Gehman fired off another shot with less than a minute to go, but F&M goalie Allie Morey collected the save and preserved the one-goal lead.
 
In the end, Messiah fell by the narrowest of margins.
 
Messiah will now turn their attention to conference play; they will return to Anderson Field and take on Stevenson University on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 1:00 p.m.