MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College men's lacrosse team fell to Washington and Jefferson 9-6 on Sunday (March 1) afternoon at Don Drumm Stadium.  With the loss the Pioneers are 2-2 overall and the win improves the Presidents to 1-3 on the season.

"It was not the result we were looking for today, but I thought the guys fought hard the entire game game," said Head Coach Shawn Runyon."  "Washington and Jefferson was able to capitalize on on opportunities when they needed to today and we were not able to make enough plays down the stretch.  We will learn from this game and get ready for Thiel on Wednesday."

The game opened with eight scoreless minutes of action.  Marietta opened the scoring at the 7:25 minute mark when Connor Ficke (Saint Leonard, Md./Calvert) scored an unassisted goal.  The Pioneers doubled their lead 30 seconds later when Quinn Rundgren (Angier, N.C./Fuquay Varina) scored an unassisted goal.  The Marietta defense held strong and maintained the first quarter shut out, to lead 2-0 at the end of the first quarter.  

Washington and Jefferson got on the board four minutes into the second quarter to trim the Pioneers edge to 2-1.  After six minutes of scoreless action through the middle of the quarter, the Presidents tied the game at 2-2 with five minutes to play in the half.  The game remained deadlocked at two goals apiece at the intermission.  

Washington and Jefferson came out of the locker room ready to play as they scored the opening two goals of the third quarter, and led 4-2.  Marietta battled back when Jiggy Smaha (Frederick, Md./Urbana) scored off a feed from Rundgren to make the score, 4-3 with seven minutes to play in the third quarter. Five minutes later the Pioneers tied the game at 4-4 when Rundgren scored his second goal of the game.  The Presidents scored the final goal of the third quarter with a minute to play, and entered the final frame ahead, 5-4.  

Washington and Jefferson rattled off three straight goals to open up an 8-4 lead with just over five minutes to play in the final quarter.  Marietta halted the run at the 5:13 minute mark of the fourth quarter behind Rundgren's third goal of the game.  Three minutes later, the Presidents scored, to take a 9-5 advantage.  The Pioneers scored the final goal of the game when Zach Klein (Evergreen, Co./Evergreen) found the back of the net, but Marietta fell, 9-6.  

The Pioneers were led by Rundgren as he had three goals, an assist, and a caused turnover.  Ficke and Smaha each tallied a goal, and tied for a game high three caused turnovers.  Jimmy Border (Cranberry Township, Pa. /Seneca Valley) and Nathan Grover (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover) won a combined 15 of 18 faceoffs in the game.  

Gavin Honeycutt (Valencia, Pa./Mars) was in goal for Marietta, he faced 37 shots, 21 of which were on goal, and made 12 saves.  

The Pioneers will return to the field Wednesday (March 4) when they host Thiel College with the game scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

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.