MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College women's lacrosse team fell 12-7 to Otterbein University, in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament quarterfinals on Saturday (April 29) evening.
"Bitter way to end a phenomenal season," said Head Coach
Malory Nadrah. "Our shots just didn't fall today and credit Otterbein for finishing. Doesn't take away from our great defense and draw hustle. We are so sad it's over but there are so many good things from the 2023 season."
Otterbein began the scoring in the second minute of the game as Carli Rigel scored on a free position shot. The Pioneers answered quickly when
Mallory Wiles (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) poked through the stingy Cardinal defense and scored an unassisted goal.
Hope Adams (Delaware, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) untied the game on the next possession when she scored on a free position shot. After Otterbein tied it up at the 9:18 mark,
Maggie Downard (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Jackson) converted a great
Mackenzie Dyott (Easton, Md./Easton) pass into a score and the Pioneers led 3-2 going into the next period. In a slow moving second quarter full of great defense, the Cardinals outscored Marietta three goals to one to take back the advantage and took a 5-4 lead into intermission.
Otterbein got three goals from Emily Wilms, their leading scorer, in the third period and tacked on two more scores to take firm control of the match. The Pioneers were able to get another score from Wiles but trailed 10-5 going into the final period. The situation looked favorable in the final period as Adams collected the draw control, quickly rushed down the field, and pushed the shot in the net. The score cut the lead to four, but Otterbein answered quickly as Wilms was able to find the back of the net. Adams got one last score, but the distance was too great to make up and the Pioneers fell to Otterbein, 12-7.
Abby May (Randolph, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary) played all 60 minutes in goal for the Pioneers. She faced 22 shots, 19 of which were on goal, and made seven saves.
Marietta was led by Adams, she had a team leading three goals. She also had five draw controls, tying for team high with
Kyla Andreas (Shirley, N.Y./Longwood). Wiles scored a pair of goals.
Alayna Francis (Irwin, Pa./Norwin) led the team with two caused turnovers and collected three draw controls during the match.
Otterbein got a great performance from goalkeeper Maggie Vance. She faced 25 Pioneer shots on goal and made 19 saves for the afternoon.
"This game does not take away from our incredible year.," concluded Coach Nadrah. "Incredibly proud to coach this program and these girls."
Marietta finished the season with a record of 10-7 overall, the best in program history.
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.
