ALLIANCE, Ohio – The Marietta College men's lacrosse team dropped a hard-fought road contest to the University of Mount Union, 13-9 on Saturday (March 13) afternoon. With the win the Purple Raiders are now 2-1 overall and 2-0 in Ohio Athletic Conference play, and with the loss the Pioneers are now 1-2 overall and 0-2 in OAC action.
After four minutes of scoreless action, Marietta broke the scoring drought when
Zach Klein (Evergreen, Co./Evergreen) scored an unassisted goal. Mount Union answered with back to back goals, and led 2-1 at the 5:48 minute mark of the first quarter. A minute later, the Pioneers tied the game at 2-2 when
Quinn Rundgren (Angier, N.C./Fuquay Varina) scored an unassisted goal. Once again the Purple Raiders grabbed a 3-2 lead. Marietta answered late in the first quarter, when
Connor Ficke (Saint Leonard, Md./Calvert) scored an unassisted goal, and the game was deadlocked at 3-3 to enter the second quarter.
The teams swapped goals to open the second quarter, and the game remained tied at 4-4 two minutes into the quarter. The Pioneer goal was scored by Rundgren. Mount Union answered with back to back goals, and led 6-4 with just under five minutes remaining in the quarter. Marietta scored a pair of late goals to tie the game at 6-6 at the intermission. The Pioneer goals were scored by
Chase Mullen (Cabot, Pa./Knoch) and Ficke, with an assist by Ficke.
The Purple Raiders scored the first four goals of the third quarter, and led 10-6 with five minutes remaining in the quarter. Marietta rallied with a pair of goals to end the quarter. The goals were scored by Rundgren, and Ficke with an assist by Klein, and Marietta entered the fourth quarter behind, 10-8.
Mount Union scored the opening goal of the fourth quarter and led 11-8. Three minutes later the Pioneers scored when Ficke scored his fourth goal of the game, to make the score 11-9. The Purple Raiders scored the final two goals of the game, and won 13-9.
Dane Barker (Cincinnati, Ohio/Summit Country Day) played all 60 minutes in goal, he faced 47 shots, 27 of which were on goal, and tied a program record for saves in a game with 14.
Marietta was led by Ficke, he had four goals, an assist, and picked up four groundballs. Rundgren pitched in with three goals, and he caused a pair of turnovers. Defensively
Cullen Zaferopolos (Olmsted Falls, Ohio/Berea-Midpark) led the way with a pair of caused turnovers and three groundballs.
The Pioneers will return to the field Wednesday (March 17) when they travel to take on John Carroll University, 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.
