MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College men's lacrosse team fell to Ohio Athletic Conference opponent Ohio Northern University, 24-5 on Saturday (April 13). The Polar Bears improve their record to 11-2 overall and 5-1 in OAC play, and the Pioneers slip to 4-9 overall and 0-6 in OAC action.
Ohio Northern opened the first quarter with six consecutive goals, and led 6-0 just over four minutes into the game. A minute later, Marietta answered when
Connor Ficke (Saint Leonard, Md./Calvert) found the back of the net. The Polar Bears finished the quarter with six goals, and entered the second quarter ahead, 12-1.
Ohio Northern carried its momentum over to the second quarter as they scored a pair of early goals.
John Sanford (Monrovia, Md./Urbana) broke up the run for the Pioneers, as he scored off a feed from
Jackson McGill (New Market, Md./Oakdale) at the 12:24 minute mark of the second quarter. After a Polar Bears goal, Marietta continued to battle when
Zach Klein (Evergreen, Co./Evergreen) scored an unassisted goal, to make the score 15-3. After five minutes of scoreless action, Ohio Northern scored three goals in the final minute and led, 18-3 at the intermission.
The Pioneers opened the scoring two minutes into the second half when Sanford found the back of the net off a feed from McGill. The Polar Bears scored the final three goals of the third quarter, and held a 21-4 edge to enter the final frame.
The fourth quarter started as a defensive battle, as the opening five and a half minutes were scoreless. Ohio Northern broke the drought with a pair of goals to lead, 23-4 with eight minutes to play in the game. Three minutes later Ficke scored his second goal of the game for Marietta. The Polar Bears scored the final goal of the game, and won the game 24-5.
The Pioneers were led by Sanford as he scored a pair of goals, and picked up two ground balls in the game. Ficke pitched in with a pair of goals in the game. Defensively, Marietta was led by
Jacob Morlando (White Bear Lake, Minn./Stillwater), as he caused a pair of turnovers, and picked up four ground balls.
Daniel Blaine (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) also caused two turnovers and picked up two ground balls.
Ryan McLane (Avon, Ohio/Avon) was in goal for the Pioneers, he faced 49 shots, 34 of which were on goal, and made 10 saves.
Marietta will return to the field Monday (April 15) when they travel to take on Earlham College with the game set to start at 7 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.
