MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College men's lacrosse team was defeated, 17-12, in their regular season finale by Otterbein University, on Wednesday (April 24) evening. With the win the Cardinals improve to 8-7 overall and 5-4 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, and with the loss the Pioneers now 7-9 and 4-5 in OAC action.
Otterbein scored the first two goals of the game, getting scores from Dom Dean and Zach Mulligan, to take the early lead.
Sam Leininger (Avon Lake, Ohio/Avon Lake) got Marietta on the scoreboard with a goal, but Otterbein answered quick with a goal to take a 3-1 lead.
Nate Neal (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) scored at the 6:33 mark to cut the lead to one and Leininger scored again in the closing minutes to put the score at 3-all into the second period.
Otterbein wasted little time in the second period as they scored a quick trio of goals to push the lead to 6-3. Leininger tried to slow the momentum as he scored another goal, but the Cardinals added another pair of scores and led 8-4 at the 5:13 mark. With less than three minutes left in the half, Neal broke through the tough Cardinal defense to score an unassisted goal and
Caden Alkire (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) followed on the next possession with his first goal of the season. The seconds left in the half,
Tyler Reich (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin) sent a shot into the net and Otterbein only led 9-7 going into intermission.
Both teams battled to a scoreless seven minutes to begin the third quarter, but Marietta broke the draught with another score from Leininger and trailed by only one score. Otterbein and Marietta would trade scores for the next few minutes, with each Marietta score keeping the deficit to one. Otterbein's Nathan Lewis dumped in the final two scores and the Cardinals led 13-10 going into the final period.
Chase Franklin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) and Reich pulled the Pioneers within one goal of the lead with scores to open the fourth period. Otterbein started to distance themselves over the next several minutes with a trio of goals and Marietta could not make up the difference. Otterbein held tough and held on for a 17-13 conference victory.
Ben Millard (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) worked the first half for the Pioneers, he faced 20 shots, 14 of which were on goal, and made five saves.
James Cipollone (Forest Hill, Md./Calvert Hall) worked the final 30 minutes and faced 26 shots, 16 of which were on goal, and made eight saves.
Neal and Leininger each scored four goals for the Pioneers and Reich added three more.
Logan Podgorski (Pittsburgh, Pa./Bethel Park) led the teams with three assists and Neal assisted on two other scores.
Despite the loss, the Pioneers clinched their first-ever playoff spot and will return to the field Saturday (April 27) as the #6 seed. The Pioneers are projected to face #3 seed Capital, 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 Twitter and Instagram.
