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GETTYSBURG, Pa. – If you run into a wall enough times, eventually it's going to fall. After battering themselves against Franklin & Marshall College for three years and coming up short, the Gettysburg women's lacrosse seniors finally cooked up the right recipe for a victory this spring.

Over the prior three seasons, Gettysburg's women's lacrosse team had put on successful campaigns that would be the envy of any collegiate program. The Bullets went 50-12 and reached the semifinals of the national tournament twice. Despite the success, one team always seemed to foil Gettysburg's dreams of more. Half of the Orange and Blue's losses during that time frame came at the hands of Franklin & Marshall, including three times in the finals of the Centennial Conference Tournament.

Entering 2010, the Bullets were locked and loaded with an experienced contingent. The team opened with seven-straight wins and suffered only a pair of close losses before its regular date with the Diplomats. The only Centennial team to beat Gettysburg at home since 2003, Franklin & Marshall set an early tone by stopping the host's first shot and netting the opening goal just under two minutes into the contest. It didn't take long for the Bullets to answer as senior Jessica Crane (Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury) scored off a free-position attempt at 27:11.

Gettysburg's adrenaline was pumping and it showed as the team fired off shot-after-shot wide of the goal. In the meantime, Meredith Lussier spotted the Dips a 2-1 lead at 21:01.

Like they did all season long, the Bullet seniors showed remarkable poise and let the game come to them, rather than forcing the action. Back-to-back scores just 28 seconds apart by Hollis Stahl (Hightstown, N.J./Peddie School) and Nina Emala (Baltimore, Md./Bryn Mawr) gave Gettysburg its first lead of the day at 18:32 in the first period. F&M answered quickly to again force a tie.

Only two goals were scored over the next 14 minutes, but both came off the sticks of Bullets. Crane converted a turnover into an unassisted goal at 11:59 and Emala tossed in a quick-stick pass courtesy of freshman Lindsey Robinson (Potomac, Md./Holton-Arms) at 4:16. The Dips turned in the last goal of the first period to set the score at 5-4 at the break.

After a quick-paced opening half, both teams settled into a more deliberate pace in the second with Gettysburg managing to control most of the tempo. The hosts padded their advantage with a goal by Crane at 24:31 and that would be the only tally through the first 20 minutes of the final period.

The Diplomats cut the margin to one at the 10-minute mark only to see the Gettysburg seniors step up with back-to-back goals for the third time in the contest, the last by Lexie Hearn (Old Greenwich, Conn./Greenich) at 6:30 giving the team an 8-5 advantage.

Franklin & Marshall mounted the pressure and tallied two goals to cut the lead to 8-7 with under four minutes to play. The Dips had a shot to tie it following a Bullet turnover, but senior Emily Gaffney (Skaneateles, N.Y./Skaneateles) poked the ball away from an attacker and the hosts regained possession. Gettysburg successfully played keep-away for the remaining two minutes of the game.

All the players on the home bench rushed the field and joined the more than exuberant seniors at midfield with family and friends applauding from the stands. The smiles were many among the throng, but none were bigger than those gracing the faces of Gettysburg's 10 seniors.