NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The Marietta College women's lacrosse team opened the 2023 campaign with an explosive 16-8 victory over Westminster College on Wednesday (Feb. 22) evening. The Pioneers are now 1-0 on the season and the Titans are 0-1 overall.
"Tonight was a great team win," said Head Coach
Malory Nadrah. "Once we got settled, we executed the game plan and thrived.
Kyla Andreas (Shirley, N.Y./Longwood) and
Alayna Francis (Irwin, Pa./Norwin) set the tone on the circle, we had 9 different people score on attack, and defense played phenomenal on the 1v1's. Abby made killer saves and showed great poise from the cage. Great game all over the field to begin the season."
Westminster was the first to hit the scoreboard as Stephanie Cimini scored just three minutes into the contest. Marietta answered with a flurry of offense, lighting up the net for five goals to close out the period.
Hope Adams (Delaware, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) scored her first goal of the year from the free position to tie it up at the 8:22 mark and then
Kyla Andreas (Shirley, N.Y./Longwood) scored less than a minute later to give the Pioneers the lead.
Kayla Godwin (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington Central) scored her first collegiate goal at the 5:08 mark. Adams and Godwin added another goal apiece and Marietta led 5-1 after one period of play.
The second quarter started with a slower pace and Westminster again scored first in the period with Emma Lafayette sneaking a shot past Marietta goalie
Abby May (Randolph, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary). The Pioneers closed out the scoring with two goals from
Megan McGriff (Lakewood, Colo./Bear Creek) and took a 7-2 lead into the intermission.
Marietta wasted little time in the third period to get back to their scoring ways. Adams scored an unassisted goal just two minutes in to extend the lead to six. The two teams battled it out over the next five minutes but
Sophia Verona (Shinnston, W. Wa./Our Lady of Victory) ended the drought with her first goal of the season at the 7:43 mark. Marietta would go on to score twice more in the next two minutes as
Mallory Wiles (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) and
Maggie Downard (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Jackson) each scored their first career goal. The Titans got a couple of goals to close out the quarter but found themselves down 12-4 going into the final period.
Although Westminster put up four goals in the final period, it was too little too late.
Renee Mulvaney (Midland, Mich./Midland) also scored her first Pioneer career goal and
Lindy Brobeck (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington) threw in a couple of insurance goals and the Pioneers cruised to a 16-8 victory.
May played all 60 minutes in goal and earned her first win of the season. May faced 25 total shots, 21 of which were on goal, and made 13 saves.
The Pioneers were led by Adams with four goals. Wiles, Brobeck, McGriff, and Godwin all finished with two goals apiece. Wiles also led with four groundballs. Andreas led with six draw controls and Francis followed with five draw controls.
Marietta will return to the field Sunday (Feb. 27) when they open their home schedule to take on Saint Vincent College, 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.
