Box Score FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – The Marietta College men's lacrosse team earned a tough 12-10 road win over Methodist University on Wednesday (March 9) afternoon.  With the win the Pioneers improve to 2-3 overall and with the loss the Monarchs fall to 2-4 overall.   

Marietta got the scoring started in the first minute of the game when Eren Evensen (Medina, Ohio/Medina) scored off of a feed from Connor Ficke (Saint Leonard, Md./Calvert).  Evensen then set up Kyle Fleshman (Davidsonville, Md./South River) for a score at the 5:57 mark and Zach Radcliffe (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) scored an unassisted goal with 56 seconds left to give the Pioneers a three-goal lead.  Methodist's Jesse Laybie got one by Marietta goalkeeper Dane Barker (Cincinnati, Ohio/Summit Country Day) with just seconds left to cut into the lead, making it 3-1 after one period.  The second quarter turned into a stalemate as both teams slugged it out.  Radcliffe scored for the Pioneers at the 7:13 mark but the Monarch answered with 2:13 remaining as Matt Pemberton found the net.  Marietta went into intermission with 4-2 lead.

Midway through the third quarter, weather conditions had turned into a full downpour. It did not seem to affect either team's ability to score. Nate Neal (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park), who had and awesome game in the face off, scored a quick goal seconds into the third quarter.  Evensen added another man-advantage goal two minutes later and it looked like the Pioneers were going to cruise to victory.  The Monarchs stopped the momentum, though, putting up two quick goals to cut into the lead.  Laybie scored at the 9:04 mark and assisted Cy Horner on a goal two minutes later.  Alex Nazarczyk (Greenwood, S.C./Corning-Painted Post) scored off a Ficke assist and Quinn Rundgren (Angier, N.C./Fuquay Varina) scored to give the Pioneers an 8-5 cushion going into the final period.

In what turned out to be a wild fourth quarter, the Monarchs did what they could to make it interesting.  Neal and Rundgren again scored quickly for Marietta but Methodist staged a comeback.  Horner scored three more times in the quarter and Laybie and Kit Allman added another goal apiece.  In the end, it was not enough and the Pioneers prevailed 12-10.

Barker played all 60 minutes in the net for Marietta.  He faced 35 shots, 19 of which were on goal, and made 9 saves.  

Rundgren was leading goal scorer for the Pioneers with three.  Neal, Radcliffe, and Evensen had two goals apiece.  Ficke scored a late goal and assisted on two others on the day.  Neal owned the faceoff all day long, winning 22 of 23.  He also picked up 20 groundballs.  Chase Franklin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) picked up four groundballs, caused four turnovers, and assisted on a goal. 

The Pioneers will remain in North Carolina and play this Saturday (March 12) when they travel to Pfeiffer 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.