LATROBE, Ohio – The Marietta College men's lacrosse team fell behind early but almost made it back before dropping a match to Saint Vincent College, 9-8, on Sunday (March 12) afternoon. With the loss the Pioneers drop to 1-2 overall and the Bearcats remain undefeated at 5-0.
 
The Bearcats roared out to a 5-0 lead in the first period as five different players scored goals.  The Pioneers claimed the last score of period one as Chase Franklin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) scored an unassisted goal with 1:13 remaining. Marietta trailed 5-1 going into the second period.  Saint Vincent shut the Pioneers out in the second period, but tallied three more times and went into intermission with a 8-1 lead.
 
The Pioneers were almost shut out in the third period, as well, but managed to answer a Bearcat goal with one of their own as Nate Neal (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) found the back of the net with nine minutes remaining to put the score at 9-2 going into the final period.  Marietta put together a tenacious comeback in the final period.  Neal scored a little over a minute into the period and would score twice more in the fourth.  Franklin would score at the 8:00 minute mark but time was running out.  The Pioneers scored two goals in the final minute, the final by Chase Mullen (Cabot, Pa./Knoch) with 12 seconds left, but the comeback would fall short.  Saint Vincent would claim the victory, 9-8.
 
Ben Millard (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) played all 60 minutes in the net, he faced 43 shots, 25 of which were on goal, and made 16 saves in the game. 
 
Neal's four goals led the Pioneers in scoring and he won 16 of 21 faceoffs along with picking up 10 groundballs.  Colton Abate (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township) led with 2 caused turnovers
 
Marietta will be back in action Wednesday (March 15) as they travel to play Westminster.  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.