GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Marietta College women's lacrosse team was on the road Saturday (Feb. 23) and fell to Thiel College, 10-9. With the loss the Pioneers fall to 0-2 overall and the Tomcats improve to 1-0.
Head Coach
Malory Brunett said, "Putting 9 goals on the board was a great effort, as well has holding them to 10. Despite the result, our team has shown great improvement since our opener. I'm proud of how our very young team handled the game."
Marietta opened the scoring three minutes into the game when
Rachel Sivie (Washington, Pa./Trinity) drove the ball down field and scored an unassisted goal. Sivie scored the first goal in Marietta College women's lacrosse program history. "I'm very proud of Rachel for scoring the first ever goal in our history. This opened the gates for a lot of our other players to find the back of the net tonight," added Coach Brunett.
The teams went back and forth and the game was tied at 2-2 with 20 minutes to play in the first half. The Pioneers goal was scored by
Shelby Millheim (Bethlehem, Pa. /Freedom) off a free position shot.
The Pioneers scored four consecutive goals and stretched out a 6-2 advantage with just over eight minutes remaining in the half. The Marietta goals were scored by
Natalie Ackerman (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon McMillian), Millheim,
Jamie Denzer (Murrysville, Pa./Plum Senior), and
Sarah Stutler (Park Hills, Ky./Notre Dame Acdemy), with
Carlee Kernodle (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park) assisting on a pair of the goals.
The Tomcats responded with back to back goals, but MIllheim scored her third goal of the game for the Pioneers and Marietta led, 7-4 with 2:34 minutes to play in the first half. Thiel ended the half with a pair of goals, but the Pioneers led, 7-6 at the intermission.
The Tomcats came out of the locker room ready to play as they scored three straight goals to take a 9-7 edge at the 19:55 mark of the second half.
Marietta quickly answered back to tie the game behind goals from Stutler, and
Faith Campbell (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills Senior ), and the game was tied at 9-9 with just under seven minutes to play in the game. Thiel scored the game winning goal with 3:28 minutes to play, and won the game, 10-9.
The Pioneers were led by MIllheim as she scored three goals, won two draw controls, and caused a turnover. Stutler added a pair of goals, two draw controls, and a ground ball in the game for Marietta. Kernodle had a game high seven draw controls, and added to the offense with a pair of assists.
In net for the Pioneers was
Maddie Leers (Crystal Lake, Ill. /Barrington), she faced 23 total shots, 19 of which were on goal, and made nine saves. "Maddie had a terrific game in goal. Each of her 9 saves were huge momentum shifters that kept us in it," concluded Coach Brunett.
Marietta will return to the field Wednesday (Feb. 27) when they host Franciscan University, with the game scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
Fans can follow all the Pioneer teams all year long at pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
