MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College men's lacrosse team opened the season with loss to Chatham University, 9-4, on Wednesday (Feb. 22) evening. With the loss the Pioneers drop to 0-1 overall and the victory evens the Cougars record to 1-1 overall.
The two teams battled it out for nearly the whole first period before anyone could light up the scoreboard. Chatham finally broke the ice first with a goal with two minutes left from Jacob Lubaway, giving the Cougars the lead. Marietta finally put a tally on the board at the 9:58 mark of the second period as
Chase Franklin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) scored off an assist from
Colton Abate (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township). Franklin then scored on the very next possession just seconds later and Marietta enjoyed their first lead of the game. In the closing minutes of the half, Chatham tied the game off of a goal from Paul Freyre and, with just eight seconds left, took the lead back with a goal from Thomas Whitacre. The Cougars would go into intermission with a 3-2 lead.
The Cougars took control in the third period with three goals over the span of 12 minutes.
Nate Neal (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) briefly stopped the momentum with a goal to close out the period, but the Pioneers trailed 6-3 going into the final period. The Pioneers got another goal from Franklin at the 10:23 mark, but they would not make up the difference and would fall to the Cougars.
Ben Millard (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) played all 60 minutes in the net, he faced 33 shots, 20 of which were on goal, and made 11 saves in the game.
The Pioneers were led by Franklin with three goals and an assist.
Barrett Lindell (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mariemont) had a great Pioneer debut as he caused two turnovers and picked up five groundballs.
Marietta will be back in action next Wednesday (Mar. 1) when they host Washington and Jefferson College with the game scheduled to begin at 7 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.
