PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Marietta College men's lacrosse team dropped a match on the road to Chatham University, 15-9 on Wednesday (Feb. 23) evening. With the loss the Pioneers drop to 1-2 overall and the victory evens the Cougars to 1-1 overall.
Although Chatham broke the ice first with a goal minutes into the game, Marietta scored the next three to gain early control of the match. Eren Evensen (Medina, Ohio/Medina) scored twice in less than a minute and Quinn Rundgren (Angier, N.C./Fuquay Varina) scored off a Zach Radcliffe (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) assist to give the Pioneers the early edge, Chatham would go on a rampage and score the next eight goals, shutting out the Pioneers in the second quarter. The Cougars would go into intermission with a comfortable 9-3 lead.
Marietta scored the opening goal of the third quarter when Rundgren scored with the help of a Chase Mullen (Cabot, Pa./Knoch) assist. Chatham's Patrick Bunner scored consecutively to extend the third quarter lead. The Pioneers attempted to get back into the contest by cashing in the next three goals. Connor Ficke (Saint Leonard, Md./Calvert) got on the scoring sheet with a late goal to cut the lead to four. The damage had been done though. Ficke and Nate Neal (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) scored goals in the fourth quarter, but the Pioneers would not make up the difference and would fall to the Cougars.
Dane Barker (Cincinnati, Ohio/Summit Country Day) played all 60 minutes in the net, he faced 43 shots, 29 of which were on goal, and made 14 saves in the game.
The Pioneers were led by Evensen and Rundgren with three goals apiece. Ficke closed the game with two goal total. Nathan Grover (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover) played well on the face-off, winning 14 of 24.
Marietta will be back in action Saturday (Feb. 26) when they travel to take on Allegheny College with the game scheduled to begin at 1 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.
