MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College men's lacrosse team cruised to a 22-5 win over Earlham College on Saturday (Feb. 22) afternoon at Don Drumm Stadim. The win improves the Pioneers to 1-1 overall and the Quakers fall to 0-1 on the season.
Head Coach
Shawn Runyon said, "It was a good team win today with everyone contributing to our success. We still have a lot of work to do moving forward, but it was nice to get a win in our home opener."
Marietta opened the game with four consecutive goals to lead 4-0 at the 6:32 minute mark of the first quarter.
Colton Abate (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township) got the Pioneers on the board two minutes into the game with an unassisted goal.
Connor Ficke (Saint Leonard, Md./Calvert) notched the second Marietta goal off a feed from Abate.
Chad Stowell (Watertown, Minn./Delano) put the Pioneers on top 3-0 with a goal off an assist from
Quinn Rundgren (Angier, N.C./Fuquay Varina). Abate notched his second goal of game off a feed from
Chase Mullen (Cabot, Pa./Knoch). Earlham scored a goal with four minutes left in the opening quarter, to make the score 4-1. Marietta scored a buzzer beater goal when Abate scored his third of the quarter, to lead 5-1 at the end of the first quarter.
The Pioneers carried their momentum over to the second quarter when they scored the first two goals of the frame. The Marietta goals were scored by Stowell, and
Jackson McGill (New Market, Md./Oakdale) with assists by Ficke and Abate, to put the Pioneers on top 7-1 two minutes into the second quarter. After a Quakers goal, Marietta rattled off the final seven goals of the quarter and led, 14-2 at the intermission. Mullen and Abate combined for four of the seven goals, and Rundgren,
Jimmy Border (Cranberry Township, Pa. /Seneca Valley), and Ficke scored the other three for the Pioneers.
The third quarter opened with four scoreless minutes of action before Marietta broke the drought. The Pioneers scored five goals over the final 11 minutes of play and entered the fourth quarter ahead, 19-2. Stowell and
Jiggy Smaha (Frederick, Md./Urbana) each notched a pair of goals in the quarter, and
John Sanford (Monrovia, Md./Urbana) scored the final goal of the third quarter.
Earlham opened the fourth quarter with back to back goals to make the score 19-4 in favor of Marietta with just under 10 minutes to play in the game. Marietta responded with three consecutive goals to grab a 22-4 edge. The Pioneer goals were scored Justin Blakso, Sanford, and
Tommy Ferger (Glen Burnie, Md./North County). The Quakers scored the final goal of the game with just over a minute to play, but Marietta won the game 22-5.
The Pioneers were led by Abate as he scored a game high five goals, had three assists, and picked up three ground balls. Stowell added four goals, four ground balls and a pair of assists in the game. Ficke, Mullen, and Smaha each pitched in with two goals in the game. Ferger and
Nathan Grover (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover) combined to win 24 of the 29 face-offs in the game.
The duo of
Gavin Honeycutt (Valencia, Pa./Mars) and
Matthew Mapstone (Euclid, Ohio/Lake Catholic) each played a half in goal. The duo faced 16 shots, 11 of which were on goal, and made six saves.
Marietta will return to action Wednesday (Feb. 26) when they host Franciscan with the game scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
Fans can follow all of 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.
