NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The Marietta College men's lacrosse team dropped a tough triple overtime game to Westminster College, 11-10 on Saturday (March 7) afternoon. With the loss the Pioneers fall to 3-3 overall and the Titans improve to 1-5 on the season.
"Overtime losses are always tough, especially a triple overtime game. Although each team had their chances in overtime, it really came down to our lack of execution during regulation that put us in that spot," said Head Coach
Shawn Runyon. "We didnt take care of the ball offensively, and had to many fundamental mistakes on defense that led to goals. We'll use this as a learning experience for the next time we are in that situation."
The game opened as a defensive battle when the first 14 minutes of the game were scoreless.
Quinn Rundgren (Angier, N.C./Fuquay Varina) broke the scoring drought and gave Marietta a 1-0 lead with a minute to play in the opening quarter. Westminster scored a last second first quarter goal, and the teams entered the second quarter deadlocked at 1-1.
Five minutes into the second quarter the Pioneers regained a 2-1 lead behind an unassisted goal from
Chad Stowell (Watertown, Minn./Delano). The Titans responded with four consecutive goals and led, 5-2 with just under four minutes to play in the second quarter. Less than a minute later, Marietta scored the final goal of the half, when
Jiggy Smaha (Frederick, Md./Urbana) scored off a feed from
Jimmy Border (Cranberry Township, Pa. /Seneca Valley). The Pioneers trailed 5-3 at the intermission.
Westminster scored the opening goal of the third quarter, but Marietta responded to score the next three goals of the game, and tied the game at 6-6, at the 5:32 minute mark of the third quarter. The Pioneer goals were scored by Stowell,
Jackson McGill (New Market, Md./Oakdale), and
Connor Ficke (Saint Leonard, Md./Calvert), with assists by McGill and Rundgren. The Titans scored back-to-back goals to lead 8-6 with just under three minutes to play in the third quarter. Marietta scored the final goal of the quarter, but trailed 8-7 to enter the final frame.
Two minutes into the fourth quarter the Pioneers tied the game at 8-8 when McGill found the back of the net. Westminster answered with a pair of goals and held a 10-8 advantage with just under 11 minutes to play in the game. After seven minutes of scoreless actin Rundgren cut the Titans led to 10-9, and a minute and a half later Stowell tied the game at 10-10 with an unassisted goal. Neither team could break the tie in regulation and the game entered overtime tied at 10-10.
The first two overtime periods were scoreless. Marietta and the Titans each had four shots in the overtime periods. With two seconds to play in the second overtime
Dane Barker (Cincinnati, Ohio/Summit Country Day) made a huge save to keep the game level, and the teams advanced to the third overtime period still deadlocked at 10 goals apiece.
Just over a minute into the third overtime, Westminster won the game 11-10 with a golden goal.
The Pioneers were led by Stowell as he scored three goals in the game. Ficke, McGill, and Rundgren all added to the attack with a pair of goals apiece.
Barker played the entire game in goal, he faced 44 shots, 25 of which were on goal, and made 14 saves in the game. The 14 saves set a program record for saves in a game.
Marietta will return to the field Wednesday (March 11) when they host Chatham University, with the game scheduled to begin at 7 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.
