PITTSBURGH, Pa.– The Marietta College men's lacrosse team was defeated by Chatham University, 14-5, on Wednesday (Feb. 28) evening. With the loss the Pioneers drop to 0-2 overall and the victory evens the Cougars record to 1-1 overall.
The two teams battled it out for a little over five minutes before anyone could light up the scoreboard. Chatham drew first blood with a goal from Isaac Josh and Trent Griffin followed with a score three minutes later i, giving the Cougars a 2-0 lead. Marietta finally put a tally on the board at the 3:39 mark as
Nate Neal (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) scored off an assist from
Josh Walters (Cleves, Ohio/Taylor). Chatham scored goals on two consecutive possessions and led 4-1 going into the second quarter.
Chatham got going quickly in the second period as Brady Rigdon scored a minute and a half in, but Marietta got a score from
Thomas Zerman (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville South) at the 10:01 mark to cut the lead back to three. Both teams battled for a scoreless five minutes before Chatham got a score from Ethan Rinker and then Tyler Laughlin pushed the lead to 7-2 with a score. Neal tacked on another score, with a
Tyler Reich (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin) assist, in the closing minutes of the half and the Pioneers would go into intermission with a 7-3 deficit.
The third quarter was a bit quiet but the Cougars extended the lead a bit further with a pair of scores and took a 9-3 lead into the final period. The Pioneers got fourth quarter goals from
Sam Leininger (Avon Lake, Ohio/Avon Lake) and Neal, but they would not make up the difference and would fall to the Cougars.
Ben Millard (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) played the first half in the net, he faced 28 shots, 19 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 27 shots, 18 of which were on goal, and also made 11 saves in the game.
The Pioneers were led by Neal with three goals and an assist. He also was 9-of-17 in face-offs and picked up three groundballs.
Justin Collings (Pottstown, Pa./Pottsgrove) led with two caused turnovers.
Marietta will play their home opener this Saturday (Mar. 2) when they host Franciscan University with the game scheduled to begin at 1 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.
