STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – After a slow first quarter, the Marietta College men's lacrosse team blasted away for nine second period scores and then held on to collect a 18-10 win over Franciscan University on Saturday (Mar. 1) afternoon.  With the win the Pioneers improve to 3-1 overall and with the loss the Barons fall to 0-2 overall.  

"It was great to see the team respond from our last game," said Marietta head coach Ben Suchomma. "12 different guys got in the scoring column and that is always a great feeling."

Both teams started slow as they fired off a trio a shots apiece with nothing lighting up the board.  The Barons finally broke the ice as Nathanial Carter scored at the 10:59 mark and Dominic Scordino followed two minutes later to give Franciscan a 2-0 lead.  Marietta finally got on the board as Thomas Zerman (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville South) found the back of the net, cutting the lead in half.  The Barons added a pair of scores and successfully kept Marietta from scoring.  The Pioneers trailed 4-1 going into the second quarter.  

Marietta wasted little time getting back into the contest as they scored three goals in the first three minutes of the second period.  Chase Franklin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) got the Pioneer offense rolling with an unassisted score.  Nate Neal (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) followed with a gritty goal off of a Josh Walters (Cleves, Ohio/Taylor) assist.  Tommy Imhof (Wooster, Ohio/Wooster) marched down the field after a Pioneers faceoff win on the next possession and scored the game tying goal at the 12:05 mark.  The rally did not end there as Caden Alkire (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial), Aiden Evans (Columbus, Ohio/Westerville South), and Neal added scores to push the Pioneer lead to three.  Scordino slowed the momentum for a bit as he tacked on a score for the Barons, but the Pioneers added three more scores before the half ended and led 10-5 at the intermission. 
 
Both teams traded scores at the start of the third period, but Marietta kept the pressure on as Walters scored, with an assist from Joshua Nyland (Gardnerville, Nevada/Douglas), at the 9:54 mark.  After Scordino added another score, Marietta closed out with goals from Walters and Evans to take a commanding 14-7 lead into the fourth period.
 
The Pioneers tacked on four more scores in the beginning five minutes of the fourth period and found themselves in control with an 11-goal lead.  Franciscan fought back with a trio of scores but could not catch up.  The Pioneers would go on to complete the 18-10 victory over the Barons.  
 
James Cipollone (Forest Hill, Md./Calvert Hall) got the start and played the first three quarters, earning the decision.  He faced 34 shots, 16 of which were on goal, and made nine saves.  Ben Millard (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) played the final quarter in goal.  He faced 11 shots, seven of which were on goal, and made 4 saves

Evans led the way for the Pioneers with four goals and added an assist on the afternoon.  Franklin, Neal, and Walters followed with two goals apiece.  Bret Dickerson (Troy, Mich./Troy) was 12-of-18 in the faceoff and picked up a seven groundballs.  Alkire scored a goal and led the Pioneers with nine groundballs and five caused turnovers. 
 
Marietta will return to the field Thursday (Mar. 6) afternoon when they hit the road to battle Greensboro College.  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.