MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College men's lacrosse team continued to heat up the nets, even in below freezing temperatures, and came away with a second consecutive blowout victory. The Pioneers defeated Washington and Jefferson College, 17-3, on Wednesday (Feb. 18) evening at a frozen Don Drumm Stadium. With the win, the Pioneers improve to 2-0 overall and with the loss the Presidents fall to 1-1 overall.
"Happy to start the year off 2-0," said Marietta head coach
Ben Suchomma. "We continue to see different players contributing, which is awesome. We still have a lot to clean up but we are eager to get back after it at practice and prepare for Chatham."
Marietta got on the board with a score from
Tommy Imhof (Wooster, Ohio/Wooster) a little over three minutes into the game and dominated for the remainder of the period, out shooting W&J 21-1.
Chase Franklin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) scored off of an
Alec Anderson (Loveland, Ohio/Little Miami) assist at the 9:55 mark and Imhof followed thirty seconds later with another score to give Marietta a three-goal lead. Franklin and
Nate Neal (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) tacked on another score apiece and the Pioneers enjoyed a 5-0 lead going into the second period.
Marietta lit up the nets for an additional eight scores in the second period.
Aiden Evans (Columbus, Ohio/Westerville South) kept up his hot start with four goals in the period. Franklin and Neal tack on goals and
Nathan Hamilton (Grove City, Ohio/Grove City) and
Logan Podgorski (Pittsburgh, Pa./Bethel Park) both got into the books with a score. Marietta took a commanding 13-0 lead into intermission.
The Pioneers wasted little time in the third period putting an additional trio of goals, but the Presidents finally broke through at the 5:30 mark. Zach Mey finally got one past the Pioneer goalkeepers and then followed up a minute later to cut the lead to 14. That's how the quarter would end and Marietta led 16-2 entering the fourth quarter. Both teams added a goal to their totals in the fourth but the Pioneer lead was too large to overtake. Marietta went on to collect 17-3 win.
James Cippollone faced a quiet first half as he got the start for the Pioneers in the net. He faced five shots, four of which were on goal and had two saves.
Ben Millard (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) worked the second half and face 13 shots, nine of which were on goal and made six saves.
Franklin and Evans led the team with four goals apiece. Neal finished with three goals and Imhof ended with two goals. Neal, Imhof, Franklin, and Podgorski all assisted on two goals apiece. Neal and
Caden Alkire (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) both led with five groundballs. Defensively, Evans and
Garrett Schweiner (Wake Forest, N.C./Wake Forest) led with two caused turnovers.
Bret Dickerson (Troy, Mich./Troy) won seven of eight faceoffs.
Marietta will return to the field Wednesday (Feb. 26) when they host Chatham University, with 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.
