WOOSTER, Ohio – The Marietta College women's lacrosse team was defeated by the College of Wooster, 20-4, on Saturday (March 2) afternoon. The win improves the Fighting Scots to 3-0, and with the loss the Pioneers are now 3-1.
"Tough day for us on the draw and attack," said Marietta head coach
Malory Nadrah. "Despite the score, I'm so proud of our defense. We made Wooster work for every goal especially in the first half. Taking our first loss like this stings but playing against high caliber lacrosse is critical in preparing us for conference play."
Both teams started off the game with limited offense as each squad attempted shots with no scores to show. The Fighting Scots finally broke through six minutes in as Bella Woodbury put the first tally on the board. Marietta wasted little time answering as
Mallory Wiles (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) scored to tie it up at one. That would be the last Marietta goal of the quarter, but Wooster would go on to score five more times, led by another goal from Woodbury and a pair of goals from Kenzie Morris. Marietta trailed 6-1 going into the second quarter.
Wooster opened the second period with a quick first-possession goal from Ciara O'Connor, but Marietta finally countered as
Natalie Cocco (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township) scored a free position goal on the other side of the field. Later in the period, O'Connor struck again as she picked up a rebound and snuck the shot by Pioneer goalkeeper
Abby May (Randolph, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary). Cocco again answered with yet another free position score to keep the deficit at five. Marietta defended well for the remainder of the period but Wooster's Brynne Snaguski tacked on one more goal in the closing seconds and the Fighting Scots would take a 9-3 lead into halftime.
Wooster would take over in the third period, shutting out Marietta while firing in seven goals of their own. The run was fueled by a pair of goals each by Woodbury and Snuguski and the Fighting Scots led 16-3 going into the final period. The Fighting Scots and Pioneers played the fourth quarter with a running clock. The Pioneers got one final goal from Cocco but Wooster tacked on four more scores and won 20-4.
Abby May (Randolph, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary) played in the net for 38-plus minutes. She faced 26 shots on goal, and made 12 saves.
Tessa Labrasciano (Brandon, Fla./Bloomingdale Senior) worked the remainder of the game and faced eight shots on goal, making two saves.
"So proud of Abby," said Nadrah of the junior goalkeeper. "She executed the scout and played outstanding. Every save she made was from a fast, well placed shot."
Marietta was led by Cocco with three goals in the game and Wiles contributed the other score.
Kyla Andreas (Shirley, N.Y./Longwood),
Maggie Downard (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Jackson), and
Marley Phillippe (Easton, Md./Easton) all had two groundballs and two caused turnovers.
"Shoutout to Natalie who gave us life on the offensive end," said Nadrah of her fifth-year senior. "She took charge when we needed it and finished on some great drives against a tough Wooster defense."
Marietta will return to the field Tuesday (March 5) when they travel to battle Delaware Valley University, with the game scheduled to begin at 12 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.
