BETHANY, W.Va. – The Marietta College women's lacrosse team opened the 2024 season with dominating 24-5 victory over Bethany College on Wednesday (Feb. 21) evening. The Pioneers are now 1-0 on the season and the Bison are 0-1 overall.
"We're pumped! What a great team win today," said Head Coach
Malory Nadrah. "We had everyone contribute and play as a team, the coaches couldn't ask for more. We faced some tough teams during preseason which was challenging but paramount to get the result when it counted today."
The Pioneers were the first to hit the scoreboard as
Hope Adams (Delaware, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) scored just three minutes into the contest. Bethany answered just a minute later as Abbie Carpenter found the back of the net to tie up the contest. After Bethany's Gracie Gonzalez was issued an early yellow card,
Mallory Wiles (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) set up and for the free position shot and delivered her first score of the season. Wiles followed up a minute later with a score
Renee Mulvaney (Midland, Mich./Midland) joined the fun with a goal at the 10:17 mark to give the Pioneers a four-score lead. After Bethany finally broke the Pioneer scoring streak, Marietta went back on the offensive with a pair of scores from
Natalie Cocco (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township) and another score from Adams and Marietta led 7-2 after one period of play.
The second quarter was an exhibit of offensive excellence as Marietta found the net on eight occasions.
Sophi Merickel (Phoenix, Ariz./Cactus Shadows) scored her first collegiate goal at the 11:48 mark. Wiles and Adams added a goal to their respective score totals over the next two minutes.
Sarah Imig (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central), another freshman making her Pioneer debut, scored her first career goal. The period closed out with Adams scoring a pair of goals and Mulvaney and Cocco adding a tally apiece. The Pioneers took a 15-2 lead into the intermission.
The third quarter began under the continuous clock rule with the large Pioneer lead, but Marietta wasted little time to get back to their scoring ways. Adams scored a goal just a minute in and
Jordan Jeffries (Baltimore, Md./Baltimore Polytechnic) put the ball in the net shortly afterwards.
Maggie Downard (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Jackson) scored at the 10:01 mark to extend the lead to 16. Bethany ended their long scoring drought with a pair of goals, but Marietta closed the quarter with another goal from Imig and Wiles and took a 21-4 lead going into the final period.
Bethany put up one final score in the final period, but Marietta countered with a pair of goals from Wiles and a score from
Kyla Andreas (Shirley, N.Y./Longwood) and the Pioneers cruised to a 24-5 victory.
Abby May (Randolph, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary) played 30 minutes in goal and earned her first win of the season. May faced five total shots, four of which were on goal, and made two saves.
Tessa Labrasciano (Brandon, Fla./Bloomingdale Senior) made her Pioneers debut by playing all 30 minutes of the second half. She faced seven total shots, six of which were on goal, and made her first three career saves.
The Pioneers were led by Adams with seven goals and Wiles finished with six goals. Cocco finished with three goals and assist on five others. Jeffries and Andreas led with four groundballs and three caused turnovers apiece.
Marley Phillippe (Easton, Md./Easton) led with eight draw controls and
Alayna Francis (Irwin, Pa./Norwin) followed with six draw controls.
Emma DeWeese (Bellbrook, Ohio/Bellbrook) also picked up her first career groundball.
"Big shoutout to Marley," said Coach Nadrah. "She was an absolute beast in her circle debut which was a huge part of the win today."
Marietta will return to the field Saturday (Feb. 24) when they travel to Saint Vincent College, with the game scheduled to begin at 11 a.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 X and Instagram.
