MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College women's lacrosse team suffered a rough second half and dropped a conference match to John Carroll University, 20-9, on Saturday (April 20) afternoon.  With the win the Blue Streaks improve to 7-6 overall and are 3-3 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, and with the loss the Pioneers are now 6-9 overall and 1-5 in OAC action.  

John Carroll wasted little time getting on the board as they put up too quick goals in the first period. Marietta finally answered back at 11:52 mark as Maggie Downard (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Jackson) got the Pioneers on the board with the goal from an assist by Jordan Jeffries (Baltimore, Md./Baltimore Polytechnic).  Two minutes later, Casey Roeder (Milford, Ohio/Milford) scored to tie the score at two.  The would be their final tally of the period but JCU collected four more goals and led 6-2 going into the second period. 
 
After the Blue Streaks scored off of the opening possession, the Pioneers tried to slow the momentum, getting a free position goal from Mallory Wiles (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) to cut the lead to 7-3. Renee Mulvaney (Midland, Mich./Midland) then scored a goal with a person advantage to cut the lead further. Both teams traded goals for the remainder of the half and JCU led 9-5 going into intermission. 
 
John Carroll widened the lead into the third period putting up sevens scores, three from Olivia Hanulak.  The Pioneers could only answer with one score from Mulvaney and trailed 16-6 at the end of the period.  Mulvaney, Wiles and Hope Adams (Delaware, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) added scores in the fourth period but the lead was too large to overcome.  The Blue Streaks cruised to a 20-9 conference victory.
 
Abby May (Randolph, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary) got the start and played all 60 minutes in goal for the Pioneers, she faced 44 total shots, 35 of which were on goal, and made 15 saves.  
 
Mulvaney led the Pioneers with three goals. Adams and Wiles both scored a pair of goals.  Wiles assisted on four other scores.  Adams led with five draw controls and Alayna Francis (Irwin, Pa./Norwin) followed with three draw controls.  Sophie Merickel played well defensively collecting two caused turnovers
  
The Pioneers will return to the field Wednesday (April 24) when they travel to Otterbein University to close out the regular season.  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.