NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. — The Marietta College women's lacrosse took to the road for the first time in 2025 and dropped a close matchup with Westminster College, 11-8, Saturday (Feb. 22) afternoon. The Pioneers dropped to 0-2 on the season, while the Titans started the season at 1-0 overall.

"Not the outcome we hoped for, but we showed fight for 60 minutes against a very talented Westminster team," said Marietta head coach Lindsay Reho.  "Credit to them on a gritty, well executed performance today. We look head back to the drawing board this week and work hard to get a win on Wednesday."

The Titans fired off a shot in their first possession that was promptly saved by Pioneers goalkeeper Abby May (Randolph, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary).  After Marietta turned it over on their first possession, Westminster quickly moved down the field and got the first score on the board as Felicia Young first a shot into the net.  The Pioneers answered quickly as Hope Adams (Delaware, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) won the following draw control and passed to Mallory Wiles (Worthington, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne), who then fed Molly Dickens (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) with a perfect pass.  Dickens deposited a shot in the net, tying the score at one.  The two teams battled for the remainder of the period scoreless until the final minute as Adams scored to break the tie.  Marietta led 2-1 going into the second quarter.  

Westminster quickly tied the score on the first possession of the second quarter as Julie Ravazza scored.  Young and Ravazza added a goal apiece over the next seven minutes to push the Titan lead to two.  Marietta finally answered as Adams took advantage of getting fouled in the final minute, scoring a free position goal. Marietta would take a 4-3 deficit into the half.  

Westminster struck first in the third period as Ava Kessler won the draw control and immediately sent a shot into the net.  Two minutes later, Marietta answered when Sophi Merickel (Phoenix, Ariz./Cactus Shadows) scored on a free position shot and Adams followed with a free position goal at the 11:05 mark, tying the game at five.  Later in the period, Marietta jumped into the brief lead after Wiles scored and Renee Mulvaney (Midland, Mich./Midland) followed with a free position score , giving Marietta a 7-6 lead.  Westminster, down a player due to yellow card, still managed to march the ball down the field and got a game-tying score from Allyssa Anstiss to deadlock the score at seven going into the final period.
 
Westminster began the fourth with two quick goals and successfully kept the Pioneers off the board for a majority of the period.  The Titans added a score at the 7:05 mark to take a three-score lead and added some insurance three minutes later, pushing the margin to four with time running out.  Dickens tacked on one more score but could not overcome the margin and Westminster would claim the victory, 11-8.
 
Adams led the way for the Pioneers with three goals and Dickens followed with two scores.  Wiles scored a goal and assisted on two others.  Merickel and Mulvaney scored a goal apiece.  Adams led with seven draw controls and Alayna Francis (Irwin, Pa./Norwin) added three draw controls and led the team with four caused turnover.

Abby May (Randolph, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary) played all 60 minutes in goal for the Pioneers. May faced 31 shots, 20 of which were on goal and made nine saves.
 
Marietta is back in action at home on Wednesday (Feb. 26) with a 7 p.m. match against Franciscan University.

Fans can follow all 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.