MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College women's lacrosse team secured its first ever home win on Marietta Field Monday (March 25), as they defeated Saint Vincent College, 15-14. With the win the Pioneers improve to 2-7 overall and with the loss the Bearcats fall to 0-3 on the season.
Head Coach
Malory Brunett said, "I'm very proud of our young team for finding the mental toughness to play to our potential for the whole game. Each of our players stepped up in their own way. There's not one player that didn't contribute to our first home victory in program history."
Marietta jumped out to an early lead when
Shelby Millheim (Bethlehem, Pa. /Freedom) opened the scoring less than a minute into the game. 40 seconds later
Rachel Sivie (Washington, Pa./Trinity) put the Pioneers up 2-0 when she scored on a free position shot.
Sarah Stutler (Park Hills, Ky./Notre Dame Acdemy) gave Marietta a 3-0 advantage, as she found the back of the net. The Pioneers lead continued to grow when
Faith Campbell (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills Senior ) scored off a feed from Sivie. Sivie put Marietta ahead, 5-0 five minutes into the half with her second goal of the game.
Saint Vincent responded with three straight goals and cut the Pioneers advantage to 5-3 with 20 to play in the half. Sivie halted the Bearcats run with a goal, and put Marietta ahead, 6-3.
Saint Vincent continued to battle back into the game with a pair of goals, but once again Sivie stopped the run, and the Pioneers led 7-5 with just over 12 minutes to play in the opening half.
After a Bearcats goal, Marietta rattled off three straight goals, and extended their led to 10-6. The goals were scored by Millheim as she scored a pair of goals, and Sivie found the back of the net for the third goal.
Saint Vincent ended the half with back to back goals, but the Pioneers entered the intermission ahead, 10-8.
Sam Mooney (New Cumberland, Pa. /Red Land) was in the net in the first half for Marietta, she faced 17 shots, 13 of which were on goal, and made seven saves.
The Bearcats came out of the locker room ready to play, as they scored four of the first five goals of the second half, to take a 12-11 lead with 17 minutes remaining in the game. The Pioneers goal was scored by Sivie.
Marietta answered back with four consecutive goals to regain its lead at the 11:31 minute mark of the second half. The Pioneer goals were scored by Millheim, Stutler, Sivie, and
Jamie Denzer (Murrysville, Pa./Plum Senior).
Saint Vincent scored a pair of goals late in the game to cut the Marietta lead to 15-14. The Pioneers defense held the Bearcats scoreless for the final five minutes of the game, and Marietta won, 15-14.
Maddie Leers (Crystal Lake, Ill. /Barrington) was in the net in the second half for the Pioneers as she faced 13 shots, 10 of which were on goal, and made four saves. "Sam and Maddie each contributed awesome halves in the cage. They each recorded terrific saves and chipped in the momentum shifts," added Coach Brunett.
Marietta was led by Sivie as she scored seven goals, picked up four ground balls, won three draw controls, and had an assist. Millheim pitched in with four goals, a game high eight draw controls, and picked up three ground balls. Stutler added a pair of goals, and Campbell and Denzer each added a goal. Campbell also won five draw controls in the game.
Defensively the Pioneers were led by
Emma Purington (Columbus, Ohio/Hamilton Township), as she caused a team leading three turnovers, and picked up a pair of ground balls.
Delaney Djuric (Farmington Hills, Mich./North Farmington) caused a turnover, and picked up a ground ball.
"I'm very proud of our goal scorers for finding the back of the net and producing 15 goals. I'm also very proud of a lot of the supporting cast on attack who created space and opportunities for their teammates," concluded Coach Brunett.
Marietta will return to the field Saturday (March 30) when they host Baldwin Wallace University, with the game scheduled to start at 1 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.
