ALLIANCE, Ohio – The Marietta College men's lacrosse team lost a high scoring road contest to the University of Mount Union, 20-11 on Wednesday (March 30) evening.  With the win the Purple Raiders are now 4-3 overall and 1-1 in Ohio Athletic Conference play, and with the loss the Pioneers are now 2-7 overall and 0-2 in OAC action.  

Just 15 seconds into the match, Marietta was called for an offside penalty and Mount Union took immediate advantage of being a "man up".  Liam Erwin scored to put the Purple Raiders up one goal.  Alex Nazarczyk (Greenwood, S.C./Corning-Painted Post) evened the game a minute later, set up by a great pass from Connor Ficke (Saint Leonard, Md./Calvert).  Mount Union would go on to score the next three goals to widen the first period lead, but Ficke would stop the momentum with a goal with 1:33 remaining.  Nate Neal (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) scored with less than a minute and Marietta would be down two goals after the first period.
 
The two teams lit up the scoreboard in the second period.  Mount Union's Eli Cotti scored within the first minute and Alek Kungle scored a minute later to widen the lead.  Ficke would go on to score three more goals in the period in an effort to keep the Pioneers close.  He would again assist on a goal, as well, setting up Zach Klein (Evergreen, Colo./Evergreen) with a great pass.  The Purple Raiders would close out the half with two more scores and would take an 11-7 lead into halftime.
 
Logen Gebhart would score twice in the first 4 minutes of the third period to give Mount Union a cushion and the Pioneers could only even the third period scoring as Zach Radcliffe (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park), Eren Evensen (Medina, Ohio/Medina), and Chase Franklin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) would all find the back of the net.  The Pioneers would take a five-goal deficit into the final period.
 
The Purple Raiders would pour it on in the fourth period, outscoring the Pioneers 5-1.  Gebhart and Conner O'Neill would score twice in the period for Mount Union.  Neal got one last Pioneer score with 4:00 remaining but could do more.  The Purple Raiders scored the final two goals of the game, and won 20-11.  

Dane Barker (Cincinnati, Ohio/Summit Country Day) played all 60 minutes in goal, he faced 56 shots, 39 of which were on goal, and recorded 19 saves in the match.  

Marietta was led by Ficke, he had four goals, two assists, and picked up five groundballs.  Neal pitched in with two goals, an assist, and picked up four groundballs.  Nathan Grover (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover) was 24-34 in the faceoff and picked up 16 groundballs.

The Pioneers will return to the field Saturday (April 2) when they come home to face Baldwin Wallace University, 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.