MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College women's lacrosse team fell, 14-11 to Otterbein University on Wednesday (April 20) evening on Marietta Field. With the win the Cardinals improve to 7-6 overall, 5-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference and with the loss the Pioneers are now 6-7 on the season, 0-6 in OAC action.
"We put together a phenomenal game tonight against a super talented team," said Head Coach
Malory Nadrah. "We fell short in some finishing on attack and details on defense, but we finally hit our potential in so many moments tonight. We're continuing to get better and shrink the deltas against these top OAC teams."
The Pioneers got off to a quick start with goals from
Rachel Sivie (Washington, Pa./Trinity) and
Hope Adams (Delaware, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) to give Marietta a fast 2-0 lead. The Cardinal's leading scorer, Emily Wilms, got Otterbein on the board at the 12:30 mark to cut the lead in half and Carli Rigal tied it up six minutes later.
Megan McGriff (Lakewood, Colo./Bear Creek) took a sweet
Sophia Verona (Shinnston, W. Wa./Our Lady of Victory) pass and deposited it into the net to give Marietta a 3-2 lead after one period.
McGriff wasted no time in the second period to score her second goal, scoring just a minute in. Otterbein would score the next four goals, two of them coming from Logan Fox. Adams kept the match close by scoring two goals in the final minutes to put the score tied at six going into the intermission.
Mackenzie Dyott's (Easton, Md./Easton) goal, just one minute the third period, gave the Pioneers the lead, in what would be a back-and-forth period.
Leeza Jongekryg's (Holland, Mich./West Ottawa) free position shot quickly answered another Rigal goal and the Pioneers still had a one-goal lead midway through the quarter. Otterbein would score four more time in the period, two of them coming from Lexie Van Cleef.
Kayla Kearns (Preston, Md./Easton) would try to slow the momentum with a goal at the five-minute mark, but the Cardinals would take 11-9 lead into the final period.
It would take six minutes for any team to score in the fourth period, and, unfortunately, it would be Otterbein. Fox would score again to extend the lead to three. Sivie and McGriff would score back-to-back goal to cut the lead to one, but could get no closer. Rigel would tack on two more insurance goals and the Cardinals would claim the victory.
Maddie Leers (Crystal Lake, Ill./Barrington) got the start for the Pioneers and would alternate quarters with
Abby May (Randolph, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary). Leers faced 14 shots, 11 of which were on goal, and made four saves. May faced 12 shots, eight of which were on goal, and made one save.
Marietta was led by McGriff and Adams with three goals apiece. Adams tacked on three assists and picked up three groundballs. Adams, Jongekryg, and
Shelby Millheim (Bethlehem, Pa./Freedom) had three draw controls apiece.
Jordan Jeffries (Baltimore, Md./Baltimore Polytechnic) had four caused turnovers.
"A lot of players to shout out tonight", commented Coach Nadrah. "Shelby, Leeza and Kyla fought hard for huge draw controls. Marley and Taylor had fantastic clears. Casey and Kayla both had breakout games. So much good tonight. It hurts to have another close game but we're making progress and heading in a good direction for our final 2 games of the season."
The Pioneers will return to the field Saturday (April 23) when they host Heidelberg. The scheduled start time is 1 p.m. at Marietta Field.
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.
