GROVE CITY, Pa. — The Marietta College Women's Soccer team opened the 2014 season with a 3-0 loss at Grove City College Friday (Aug. 29) afternoon. The Wolverines scored a pair of first half goals en route to the shutout victory.
Kristin Thomas finished a break away with an unassisted goal in the 16th minute to give Grove City the early lead. The Wolverines made it 2-0 in the 34th minute when Lacy Harkrader tallied her first collegiate goal with assists from Holly Spofford and Sammie Wild.
The first half was closer than the score indicated as each team took four shots on goal. Senior
Stevie Reilly (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park Senior) fired off three shots only to see Grove City keeper Kristi Lathrop save each of them. Lathrop finished the day with four saves, all in the first period.
Sophomore
Sam Kelley (Columbus, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) started in goal for the Pioneers and played the first 45 minutes. She allowed the two goals and made a pair of saves. Freshman
Rebecca Tenney (Pepper Pike, Ohio/Orange) made her collegiate debut and had two saves in the second half.
Both teams struggled to mount an attack in the second half as the defenses turned up the pressure. Grove City finally found the back of the net in the 89th minute when Megan Van Kirk scored off a deflection in front of the Pioneer goal.
The Wolverines took 15 shots in the match including seven on frame. Marietta finished with seven shots, four on goal.
Marietta is back in action on Saturday (Aug. 30) with a 4:30 p.m. match at Westminster College. Fans can follow the Pioneers all season long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
