MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College men's lacrosse team was defeated, 11-9, in their regular season home finale by Otterbein University, on Wednesday (April 19) evening. With the win the Cardinals improve to 6-7 overall and 4-3 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, and with the loss the Pioneers now 5-8 and 3-4 in OAC action.
"Not the result we wanted but proud of the fight this team has," said Marietta Head Coach
Ben Suchomma. "We continue to keep showing glimpses of improvement all over the field."
Otterbein scored in the first minute of the game as Nick Wile found the back of the net, but the Pioneers answered with a four-goal run to give them a 4-1 lead at the 10:06 mark. Scores from
Nate Neal (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) and
Chase Mullen (Cabot, Pa./Knoch) got the rally started and
Connor Ficke (Saint Leonard, Md./Calvert) delivered a pair of goals to fuel the Pioneers to a great start. Otterbein was able to stop the momentum and delivered two scores of their own to close out the period. The Pioneers would take the one-goal lead into the second period.
The first ten minutes of period two were controlled by Otterbein, scoring three goals in the process. Ty Fourney, Max Graham, and Carson Rainone were all credited with goals, putting the Cardinals ahead by two.
Chase Franklin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) converted a great setup by Ficke to cut the lead to one with 1:41 remaining in the half, but could get no closer. Otterbein led 6-5 going into intermission.
The Cardinals would score three goals in the first 11 minutes of the third quarter to give them their biggest lead of the match, 9-5, and that is what the score would be going into the final period.
Marietta, worked fast in the fourth period to attempt to get back in the game.
Colton Abate (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township) scored with a man advantage in the first minute to cut the lead to three. Franklin struck again unassisted three minutes later to put the score at 9-7. On the ensuing faceoff,
Nathan Grover (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover) picked up the groundball and raced towards the goal, slinging the shot into the net and cutting the lead to one. Otterbein held tough and was able to score twice more, putting the game out of reach.
Ben Millard (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) would go the distance in the net for the Pioneers. He faced 42 shots, 24 of which were on goal, and made 13 saves.
Franklin led the Pioneers with three scores. Ficke scored twice and assisted on two others. Mullen scored once and assisted on two others. Grover had another solid game in the faceoff position, winning 14 of 24 and picking up seven groundballs.
The Pioneers will return to the field Saturday (April 22) when they travel to Baldwin Wallace, 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.
