MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College women's lacrosse team fell 25-11 at home to an undefeated Capital University team, on Wednesday (April 6) evening. With the win the Comets improve to 13-0 overall and 4-0 in Ohio Athletic Conference play, and with the loss the Pioneers are now 6-5 overall and 0-4 in OAC action.
"The box score does not reflect the incredible game the team played tonight," said Head Coach
Malory Nadrah. "We competed right from the start and finally hit our potential in a lot of moments. The intensity was on the field all night despite the score. Our fight kept Capital fighting until the end. I'm so proud of the team for hanging with a great, great opponent tonight."
Marietta started strong and put the first two scores on the board.
Megan McGriff (Lakewood, Colo./Bear Creek) scored off a free position shot a little over a minute into the game and
Leeza Jongekryg (Holland, Mich./West Ottawa) scored 15 seconds later. The Pioneers looked as if they were ready to compete with the mighty Comets. Capital got it going two minutes later. Luci Kanowski rocketed a shot past Marietta starter
Maddie Leers (Crystal Lake, Ill./Barrington) at the 11:32 mark. Grace Osborn, who leads the nation in goal scoring, got her record-breaking evening rolling just a few seconds later scoring an unassisted goal and tying the contest.
Anna Callow (Wadsworth, Ohio/Wadsworth) and McGriff scored goals in the next few minutes but Capital put up three goals in a minute to take their first lead of the day. Osbourne would close out the quarter with two more goals and the Comets would take an 8-4 lead into the second period.
The second period was dominated by Capital and would explode for nine more goals. Brooke Delara would score on five occasions in the second. Osborn, not to be outdone, would score twice more, The Marietta bright spots were Callow and
Hope Adams (Delaware, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) putting up some scores and
Shelby Millheim (Bethlehem, Pa./Freedom) scoring with five minutes remaining in the half.
"Shelby had a great night tonight", said Coach Nadrah. "She came up big on defense and transition tonight. Not on the box score but she showed up big time for us play wise and leadership wise."
The second half slowed down considerably due to the pouring rain that covered Marietta Field. Adams would punch in a goal just a minute into the quarter, but Capital would score five consecutive goals, four by Osborn.
Casey Roeder's (Milford, Ohio/Milford) free position goal with 2 minutes left in the quarter would put the Pioneers into double figures in scoring, but Marietta would get no closer.
Carlee Kernodle (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park) scored one last time in the waning moments of the fourth period, but the Comets would go on to win 25-11. Osbourn would go on to break her own school record with her 13 goals on the evening. Delara would score eight times.
Maddie Leers (Crystal Lake, Ill./Barrington) got the start and played over half the game in goal. She faced 22 shots on goal, and made five saves.
Abby May (Randolph, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary) played nearly 21 minutes in net, she faced 11 shots and made three saves.
The Pioneers will return to the field Saturday (April 9) when they host Ohio Northern University, with the game scheduled to begin at 5:30 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.
