MARIETTA, Ohio - The Marietta College women's lacrosse team picked up a crucial Ohio Athletic Conference victory on Saturday (April 22) as they defeated Baldwin Wallace University, 10-8.  With the win the Pioneers improve to 9-6 overall and 3-3 in Ohio Athletic Conference play, and with the win the Yellow Jackets improve to 3-12 overall and 1-5 in OAC action.  
 
"Great fourth quarter to put us ahead and get the win today," said Marietta Head Coach Malory Nadrah. "We played solid Defense all game long and had great draw play from our circle personnel."
 
Before the game, nine Pioneer seniors: Casey Roeder (Milford, Ohio/Milford), Mackenzie Dyott (Easton, Md./Easton), Kayla Kearns (Preston, Md./Easton), Emily Etheridge (Harrisville, R.I./Burrillville), Natalie Cocco (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township), Sophia Verona (Shinnston, W. Wa./Our Lady of Victory), Megan Marshall (Naples, Fla./Estero), Lindy Brobeck (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington), and Megan McGriff (Lakewood, Colo./Bear Creek) were celebrated for their contributions to the program.  
 
"Congratulations to our 2023 seniors," said Coach Nadrah. "They each committed very early on in our existence as a program and I can't thank them enough for their dedication and commitment. They have helped grow this program into a competitive team. I am so proud of all of them and will miss them so much."

Both teams played a very closely contested first half.  The Yellow Jackets finally lit up the scoreboard first after nearly nine minutes of game play.  Kaitlyn Hradek scored from a Sophia Leuma assist and Baldwin Wallace held a 1-0 lead.  Marietta answer two minutes later after Mallory Wiles (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) made a great move to escape her defender and deposited the ball in the goal, tying the game.  Less than a minute later, BW got a score from Lexy Conway and took a 2-1 lead into the second period.  Hope Adams (Delaware, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) got into the game and made her mark in the second period scoring two unassisted goals and the Pioneers found themselves tied at two going into the intermission.
 
The two teams went back and forth in the third period but only could add one goal apiece.  Adams tacked on a score two minutes into the period, but BW's score at the 3:33 mark kept both teams in the 4-4 deadlock going into the final period. 
 
The Yellow Jackets scored quickly in the final period, but Marietta answered with two consecutive scores from Wiles and Adams.  After BW tied it up at the 9-minute mark, the Pioneers went on a three-score rally as Maggie Downard (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Jackson) joined the score column and Wiles and Adams added to their totals.  The Yellow Jackets tried a comeback but ran out of time and the Pioneers would prevail with the final score of 10-8.

Abby May (Randolph, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary) played all 60 minutes in the net and faced 24 shots, 18 of which were on goal, and also made 10 saves. 

The Marietta offense was led by Wiles and Adams, who tied with a team high four goals. Megan Marshall (Naples, Fla./Estero) caused three turnovers in the matchup and Kyla Andreas (Shirley, N.Y./Longwood) led the team with seven draw controls.  

The Pioneers will return to action Wednesday (April 26) when they host Muskingum University in their regular season finale. 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.