MARIETTA, Ohio - The Marietta College women's lacrosse team began Ohio Athletic Conference play at home on Saturday (March 23) and dropped a match to Baldwin Wallace University, 14-8.  With the loss the Pioneers fall to 5-4 overall and 0-1 in Ohio Athletic Conference play, and with the win the Yellow Jackets improve to 6-3 overall and 1-0 in OAC action.  
 
"As a team, we did not play to our potential," said Marietta Head Coach Malory Nadrah. "I'm really proud of the seniors strong play. We struggled on the circle and couldn't finish our chances in front of the cage. Our defense and Abby made some great stops, we had awesome second slides and defended cutters well. Tough to open up conference like this but we've got so much opportunity to make adjustments and play better the rest of our season."
 
Before the game, four Pioneer seniors: Marley Phillippe (Easton, Md./Easton), Jordan Jeffries (Baltimore, Md./Baltimore Polytechnic), Kyla Andreas (Shirley, N.Y./Longwood), and Hope Adams (Delaware, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) were celebrated for their contributions to the program.  
 
Marietta got to a quick start as Adams broke free and deposited a shot into the goal to put the Pioneers on the board first.  Deanna Loukas answered quickly for the Yellow Jackets to tie the contest at one.  Casey Roeder (Milford, Ohio/Milford) unbroke the tie one minute later, but again, BW locked it back at two with a goal from Sophia Leuma.  Mallory Wiles (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) made a great move to escape her defender and fired a shot in the goal, giving Marietta the lead yet again, but Clare Alic gave Baldwin Wallace the lead with a pair of score over the next three minutes.  Sophi Merickel (Phoenix, Ariz./Cactus Shadows) scored in the closing minute, off of an assist from Wiles, but Marietta trailed 5-4 going into the second period.  During a fast-paced second period, BW extended the lead with a pair of score while keeping the Pioneers off the board until the final two minute.  Wiles broke free again but the Pioneers found themselves down 7-5 going into the intermission.
 
The two teams went back and forth in the third period but the Yellow Jackets scored first as Deanna Loukas scored at the 11:02 mark.  Jordan Jeffries (Baltimore, Md./Baltimore Polytechnic) answered three minutes later off of an assist by Hope Adams (Delaware, Ohio/Bishop Watterson), cutting the lead to 8-6.  BW broke it open as they score four straight times over the next six minute.  Andreas briefly stopped the momentum with a score in the final seconds, but BW led 12-7 going into the final period.  Marietta was held scoreless for much of the final period, but got a score from Maggie Downard (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Jackson) in the final minute.  The lead was too much to overcome and the Jackets would prevail with the final score of 14-8.

Abby May (Randolph, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary) played all 60 minutes in the net and faced 32 shots, 23 of which were on goal, and also made nine saves. 

The Marietta offense was led by two goals from Wiles.  Adams scored a goal and led the team with four draw controls.  Andreas led with four groundballs.  

"Each senior played like a senior today and that's all I can ask for as a coach," said Coach Nadrah. "Whether it was a huge goal, taking a hard hit, locking it down on D, or getting the draw. This class is 4 incredibly great players that have made a monumental impact on our program. I look forward to them all bouncing back from this loss and continuing strong play in their final OAC games."

The Pioneers will return to action Wednesday (March 29) when they host Washington and Jefferson College. The game scheduled to begin at 6 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.