GAMBIER, Oh. – The historic season for Pomona-Pitzer lacrosse has come to a close after an 18-13 loss to Franklin and Marshall in the Elite Eight of the 2023 NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Tournament. The Sagehens and Diplomats played a very competitive contest with the Sagehens outscoring F&M 9-6 in the second half while the Diplomats recorded 12 goals to the Pomona-Pitzer's four in the first half. The two teams proved to be evenly matched with both squads recording 17 ground balls while F&M won 20 draw controls to the Sagehens 15. The contest was also an extremely physical battle as both teams recorded nearly 40 fouls each. Fiona Lewis led the team's offense with three goals while Caroline Worthington, Maggie Sweeney, Grace Warner, and Eloise Cherian all recorded two goals. Shoshi Henderson dished out three assists for the team and scored one goal as well. 

The Diplomats struck first just over two minutes into the contest but Eloise Cherian and Maggie Sweeney both scored to put the Sagehens on top 2-1. Franklin and Marshall found the equalizer just a minute later but a goal from Shoshi Henderson with 8:34 on the clock put the Sagehens up 3-2. From there, the Diplomats went on a 5-0 run to end the quarter with a 7-3 lead. 

Pomona-Pitzer struck first in the second period with a goal from Ellie Kruse, cutting the lead to 7-4. Franklin and Marshall repeated their first quarter run, scoring five unanswered goals to take a 12-4 lead heading into halftime.  

After the halftime break, Pomona-Pitzer rallied with three-straight goals in the first three minutes of the third quarter, cutting the lead to 12-7 with goals from Fiona Lewis and Caroline Worthington. Franklin and Marshall responded with two goals of their own, but Grace Warner scored two more goals in the quarter, cutting the F&M lead to 15-9 heading into the fourth quarter. 

With 15 minutes remaining in the Elite Eight, the Sagehens got to work on their comeback attempt as Fiona Lewis and Eloise Cherian scored three goals in just over six minutes of time to cut the lead to 15-12, forcing a Diplomats timeout. Down the stretch, the Diplomats were able to push their lead to 18-12 but the Sagehens scored the final goal of the contest off the stick of Maggie Sweeney, cutting the deficit to 18-13. The 18-13 Elite Eight loss sets the program's overall record at 21-2, their best finish in history for the Sagehens.