LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Marietta College men's lacrosse team opened the season with loss to Transylvania University, 19-4, on Saturday (Feb. 24) afternoon. With the loss Marietta drops to 0-1 overall and the victory evens Transylvania's record to 1-2 overall.  
 
"Unfortunately, we have been battling some key injuries so our depth was not there," said Marietta head coach Ben Suchomma. "But we will learn from this and get prepared for Wednesday."
 
Transylvania got off to a quick start as they won the opening faceoff and scored on the opening possession.  Marietta answered at the 11:14 mark as Logan Podgorski (Pittsburgh, Pa./Bethel Park) scored an unassisted goal, tying the score at one.  That would be the final score for Marietta in the quarter, but Transylvania got a pair of scores from Andrew Welch and Casey Fagan on the way to a seven-goal scoring run.  Transylvania would go into the second period with an 8-1 lead. 

Transylvania again won the opening faceoff of the second period and marched down to score.  Later in the period, Nate Neal (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) scored a goal with an assist from Thomas Zerman (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville South) to briefly stop the opposition's momentum.  Neal found the back of the net in the closing seconds of the half but Transylvania  would go into intermission with a 10-3 lead. 

In the second half, Transylvania would tack on five more scores before Marietta could answer.  Sam Leininger (Avon Lake, Ohio/Avon Lake) scored his first career Pioneer goal at the 2:40 mark, but the Pioneers trailed 16-4 going into the final period.  Marietta would be shut out in the final period and Transylvania would go on to claim the 19-4 victory. 

Ben Millard (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) played the first minutes in the net, he faced 31 shots, 21 of which were on goal, and made 11 saves in the game.  James Cipollone (Forest Hill, Md./Calvert Hall) worked the second half and faced 29 shots, 18 of which were on goal, and made nine saves in the game.
 
The Pioneers were led by Neal with two goals and an assist.  Barrett Lindell (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mariemont) had two caused turnovers and was 3-of-13 in face offs.

Marietta will be back in action next Wednesday (Feb. 28) when they travel to battle Chatham University 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 X and Instagram.