NEW CONCORD, Ohio – Due to high water conditions from the flooding Ohio River, the Marietta College men's lacrosse team was forced to move their home matchup with the University of Mount Union to Muskingum University.  Even with the adversity of having the move the game, the Pioneers were able to rally in the second half and earn a 10-9 overtime victory over the Purple Raiders on Wednesday (April 3) evening.  With the win the Pioneers improve to 5-5 overall and 2-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference and with the loss Mount Union falls to 4-6 overall and 1-2 in OAC action.  
 
The Raiders hit the scoreboard first as Grant Dunmire broke away and scored an unassisted goal three minute in to the contest.  After both teams battled back and forth over the next several minutes, Mount Union found the nets again with a score from Sly Sundown to take a 2-0 lead.  Marietta answered quickly as Chase Franklin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) scored with an assist from Thomas Zerman (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville South) at the 5:12 mark.  Mount Union came back with a goal of their own and led 3-1 going into the second quarter.  
 
Marietta controled much of the second period and stormed into the lead for the first time in the match.  Tyler Reich (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin) scored first at the 10:51 mark and Josh Walters (Cleves, Ohio/Taylor) scored less than a minute later to knot the score up at 3-3.  After the Raiders committed a penalty, Marietta cashed in the man advantage with a score from Nate Neal (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) to take the one-goal lead.  Mount Union answered with a three-goal flurry over the next two minutes to vault back to a 6-4 lead.  Both teams tacked on one more score apiece and Marietta trailed going into intermission, 7-5.
 
The two teams played physical into the third quarter, but with little offense to show for it.  The Purple Raiders finally broke the drought at the 10:02 mark as Cole Niemann scored, but Marietta shut them out for the remainder of the period.  Walters and Neal scored a goal apiece and Marietta was down by only one score going into the final period.  
 
Marietta quickly tied the game as they got a score from Logan Podgorski (Pittsburgh, Pa./Bethel Park) a little over a minute into the final period.  Walters provided yet another score two minutes later and Marietta led 9-8 with 11 minutes remaining.  After Marietta committed a penalty, Mount Union's Braylon Li used the man advantage and sent a shot into the net to tie the game at 9.  Despite some close calls, neither team was able to score for the remainder of regulation and the matchup was deadlocked at nine going into overtime.  
 
Neal won the opening faceoff in overtime and found himself one-on-one the Mount Union goalkeeper Stephen Moschetta.  Neal sent the game winner into the net and Marietta went on the record the 10-9 overtime victory.
 
Ben Millard (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) got the start for the Pioneers in the net and played the first half.  He faced 16 shots, 14 of which were on goal and had seven saves.  James Cipollone (Forest Hill, Md./Calvert Hall) played the second half and worked the overtime period, claiming the victory.  He faced 17 shots, seven of which were on goal, and made five crucial saves.

Walters led the team with four goals and Neal scored three goals.  Franklin scored a goal and assisted on two others and picked up six groundballs.  Neal also led the Pioneers with 11 groundballs and went 14-23 in the faceoff for the evening.  Alan Schwab (Meadville, Pa./Meadville) led a great Pioneer defensive effort with two caused turnovers

Marietta will return to the field Saturday (April 7) when they travel to take on Heidelberg 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.